1 Ephraim tries to herd the wind, chasing after the east wind all day long. Their lies and violence keep on increasing. They make a treaty with Assyria, and send olive oil to Egypt.[a] 2 The Lord also has an accusation against Judah, and will punish Jacob for the way the people act; he will repay them for what they have done. 3 Even in the womb he fought with his brother;[b] when he became a man he fought with God. 4 He fought with the angel, and he won. He wept, and begged him for a blessing. Jacob found God at Bethel, and spoke with him there— 5 the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his memorable name! 6 You must return to your God. Act lovingly and do what is right, and always wait for your God.
7 A merchant who holds in his hands dishonest scales loves to swindle. 8 Ephraim says, “I'm rich! I've made myself wealthy! I've made so much from my work, and nobody can prove me guilty of doing wrong.”
9 But I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live again in tents like you do at the time of that particular festival.[c]
10 I spoke through the prophets. I myself gave many visions and parables through the prophets.
11 If Gilead is idolatrous,[d] they will surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Even their altars are like heaps of rocks in the furrows of the field.[e]
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel[f] worked there to gain a wife, earning a wife by looking after sheep. 13 Through a prophet[g] the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet they were cared for.[h]
14 Ephraim has really upset the Lord, and the Lord will let them have the consequences of their bloodshed and pay them back for their contempt.
- a In other words, while making a treaty with Assyria they are covering their options by trying to gain support from Egypt as well by sending supplies of olive oil.
- b Literally, “he grasped his brother's heel.”
- c This refers to the Festival of Tabernacles where the people lived outside in tents or shelters for a week to remember their journey through the wilderness.
- d The word used here is the same as in Beth-aven, the parody name for Bethel, signifying the worship of idols who are truly worthless, they are nothing.
- e This verse suggests mixed worship that merged idols with the true God. Like rocks in a plowed field, this was barrier to knowing the true God.
- f Israel was the new name God gave to Jacob.
- g The prophet referenced here is Moses.
- h The same word is used for Jacob looking after sheep and the Lord looking after Israel through Moses.