Ephraim feeds on wind
And pursues the east wind continually;
He abounds in falsehood and destruction.
Moreover, he cuts a covenant with Assyria,
And oil is carried to Egypt.
Yahweh’s Contention with Judah
2 And Yahweh has a contention with Judah
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
And in his maturity he wrestled with God.
4 Indeed, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;
He wept and sought His favor.
He found Him at Bethel,
And there He spoke with us,
5 Even Yahweh, the God of hosts,
Yahweh is His name of remembrance.
6 Therefore, return to your God,
Keep lovingkindness and justice,
And hope in your God continually.
7 A merchant, in whose hands are deceptive balances,
He loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich;
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors they will find in me
No iniquity, which would be sin.”
9 But I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt;
I will make you settle in tents again,
As in the days of the appointed festival.
10 And I have spoken to the prophets,
And I made visions abound,
And by the hand of the prophets I gave parables.
11 Is there wickedness in Gilead?
Surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
Yes, their altars are like the stone heaps
Beside the furrows of the field.
12 Now Jacob fled to the field of Aram,
And Israel worked for a wife,
And for a wife he kept sheep.
13 But by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,
And by a prophet he was kept.
14 Ephraim has provoked to bitter anger;
So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
And cause his reproach to return to him.
Ephraim’s Idolatry
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.
He lifted himself up in Israel,
But through Baal he became guilty and died.
2 And now they sin more and more
And make for themselves molten images,
Idols made from their silver according to their understanding,
All of them the work of craftsmen.
They are saying of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they will be like the morning cloud
And like dew which soon disappears,
Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.
4 Yet I have been Yahweh your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know any god except Me,
And there is no savior besides Me.
5 I Myself knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of drought.
6 As they had their pasture, then they became satisfied,
Indeed, they were satisfied, and their heart became raised up;
Therefore they forgot Me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them;
Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
8 I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
And I will tear open the chest enclosing their heart;
There I will also devour them like a lioness,
As a beast of the field would rip them open.
9 It is your ruin, O Israel,
That you are against Me, against your help.
10 Where now is your king,
That he may save you in all your cities,
And your judges of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in My anger
And took him away in My wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 The pains of childbirth come upon him;
He is not a wise son,
For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.
14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
O Death, where are your thorns?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
15 Though he is fruitful among the reeds,
An east wind will come,
The wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will become dry,
And his spring will be dried up;
It will plunder his treasury of every desirable article.
16 Samaria will be held guilty,
For she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
Their infants will be dashed in pieces,
And their pregnant women will be ripped open.