50 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 12
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1 The people of Israel feed on the wind;
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they chase after the east wind all day long.
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They pile up lies and violence;
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they are making an alliance with Assyria
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while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
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2 Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
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He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways,
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and pay him back for all he has done.
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3 Even in the womb,
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Jacob struggled with his brother;
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when he became a man,
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he even fought with God.
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4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
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He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
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There at Bethel he met God face to face,
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and God spoke to him—
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5 the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
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the Lord is his name!
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6 So now, come back to your God.
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Act with love and justice,
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and always depend on him.
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7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants
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selling from dishonest scales—
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they love to cheat.
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8 Israel boasts, “I am rich!
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I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
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No one has caught me cheating!
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My record is spotless!”
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9 “But I am the Lord your God,
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who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
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And I will make you live in tents again,
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as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.
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10 I sent my prophets to warn you
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with many visions and parables.”
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11 But the people of Gilead are worthless
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because of their idol worship.
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And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
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their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
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along the edges of a plowed field.
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12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
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and there he earned a wife by tending sheep.
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13 Then by a prophet
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the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt;
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and by that prophet
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they were protected.
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14 But the people of Israel
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have bitterly provoked the Lord,
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so their Lord will now sentence them to death
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in payment for their sins. |