A reproof of Ephraim, Judah, and Jacob.

12:1 Ephraim feeds on wind,
and chases the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and desolation.
They make a covenant with Assyria,
and oil is carried into Egypt.

12:2 Yahweh also has a controversy with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
according to his deeds he will repay him.

Isaiah 42:24

By former favours he exhorts to repentance.

12:3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel;
and in his manhood he contended with God.

12:4 Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed;
he wept, and made supplication to him.
He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

12:5 even Yahweh, the God of Armies;
Yahweh is his name of renown!

12:6 Therefore turn to your God.
Keep kindness and justice,
and wait continually for your God.

Ephraim's sins provoke God.

12:7 A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand.
He loves to defraud.

12:8 Ephraim said,

“Surely I have become rich,
I have found myself wealth.
In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”

12:9 “But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt.
I will yet again make you dwell in tents,
as in the days of the solemn feast.

12:10 I have also spoken to the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions;
and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

12:11 If Gilead is wicked,
surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls.
Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

12:12 Jacob fled into the country of Aram,
and Israel served to get a wife,
and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.

12:13 By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.

12:14 Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger.
Therefore his blood will be left on him,
and his Lord will repay his contempt.