1 Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and violence. He makes a covenant with Assyria, and olive oil is carried to Egypt.
2 The LORD also has a dispute with Judah. He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him based on his actions.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother's heel, and as an adult he wrestled with God.
4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor. He found him at Bethel, and there He spoke with him.
5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts; Yahweh is His name.
6 But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.
7 A merchant loves to extort with dishonest scales in his hands.
8 But Ephraim says: "How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any crime in me that I can be punished for!"
9 I have been the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival days.
10 I spoke through the prophets and granted many visions; I gave parables through the prophets.
11 Since Gilead is full of evil, they will certainly come to nothing. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; even their altars will be like heaps of rocks on the furrows of a field.
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife.
13 The LORD brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, and Israel was tended by a prophet.
14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.