God's Case against Jacob's Heirs

# Chapter 12
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 conduct;
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. The Lord is the God of Armies;
the Lord 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 thinks,
"How rich I have become;
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any iniquity in me
that I can be punished for!" 
Judgment on Apostate Israel


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 will speak through the prophets
and grant many visions;
I will give 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 piles of rocks
on the furrows of a field.

Further Indictment of Jacob's Heirs


12. Jacob fled to the territory 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.




