Chapter 12.
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind.
He daily increaseth lies and desolation, and they do make a covenant with the
Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to
his ways.
According to his doings will he recompense him.
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power
with God.
He said, Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed.
He wept, and made supplication unto him.
He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us.
Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, is his memorial.
Therefore turn thou to thy God.
Keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
He is a merchant.
The balances of deceit are in his hand.
He loveth to oppress.
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance.
In all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell
in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions and used
similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.
Is there iniquity in Gilead?
Surely they are vanity.
They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal.
Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a
wife he kept sheep.
And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he
preserved.
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly.
Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord
return unto him.