12:1 “Efrayim surrounds me with lies and the house of Isra’el with deceit. Y’hudah still rules with God and is faithful with holy ones.
12:2 Efrayim is chasing the wind, pursuing the wind from the east. All day he piles up lies and desolation — they make a covenant with Ashur, while sending olive oil to Egypt.
12:3 Adonai also has a grievance against Y’hudah; he will punish Ya‘akov according to his ways and pay him back for his misdeeds.
12:4 In the womb he took his brother by the heel; in the strength of his manhood he fought with God.
12:5 Yes, he fought with an angel and won; he wept and pleaded with him. Then at Beit-El he found him, and there he would [later] speak with us —
12:7 So you, return to your God; hold fast to grace and justice; and always put your hope in your God.
12:8 “A huckster keeps false scales, and he loves to cheat.
12:9 Efrayim says, ‘I have gotten so rich! I have made me a fortune! And in all my profits no one will find anything wrong or sinful.’
12:10 “But I am Adonai your God, from the land of Egypt. Again I will make you live in tents, as in the days of the established festival.
12:11 I have spoken to the prophets; it was I who gave vision after vision; through the prophets I gave examples to show what it would all be like.
12:12 Is Gil‘ad given to iniquity? Yes, they have become worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice to bulls; therefore their altars are like piles of stones in a plowed field.”
12:13 Ya‘akov fled to the land of Aram. There Isra’el slaved to win a wife; for a wife he tended sheep.
12:14 By a prophet Adonai brought Isra’el up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was protected.
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