¹ Ephraim feeds on the wind;
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a treaty with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
² The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
he will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
³ In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
⁴ He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there-
⁵ the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!
⁶ But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
⁷ The merchant uses dishonest scales
and loves to defraud.
⁸ Ephraim boasts,
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
⁹ “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables through them.”
¹¹ Is Gilead wicked?
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.
¹² Jacob fled to the country of Aram;
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.
¹³ The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,
by a prophet he cared for him.
¹⁴ But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed
and will repay him for his contempt.