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¹ Ephraim chases^[a] the wind^(a)
and pursues the east wind.^(b)
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria,^(c)
and olive oil is carried to Egypt.^(d)

² The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;^(e)
He will repay him based on his actions.
³ In the womb he grasped his brother's heel,^(f)
and as an adult he wrestled with God.^(g)
4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor.^(h)
He found him^[b] at Bethel,⁽ⁱ⁾
and there He spoke with him.^[c](j)
5 Yahweh is the God of Hosts;
Yahweh is His name.^(k)
6 But you must return to your God.^(l)
Maintain love and justice,^(m)
and always put your hope in God.⁽ⁿ⁾

⁷ A merchant loves to extort^(o)
with dishonest scales in his hands.^(p)
8 But Ephraim says:
"How rich I have become;^(q)
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me^(r)
that I can be punished for!"^[d]

⁹ I have been Yahweh your God
ever since^[e] the land of Egypt.^(s)
I will make you live in tents again,^(t)
as in the festival days.
¹⁰ I spoke through the prophets^(u)
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.^(v)
11 Since Gilead is full of evil,^(w)
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;^(x)
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks^(y)
on the furrows of a field.

¹² Jacob fled to the land of Aram.^(z)
Israel worked to earn a wife;^(aa)
he tended flocks for a wife.^(ab)
13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,^(ac)
and Israel was tended by a prophet.

¹⁴ Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,^(ad)
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him^(ae)
and repay him for his contempt.^(af)