- [1] The people of Israel[2] feed on the wind; they chase after the east wind all day long. They pile up lies and violence; they are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
- Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob[3] for all his deceitful ways, and pay him back for all he has done.
- Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.
- Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him[4]—
- the Lord God of Heaven's Armies, the Lord is his name!
- So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him.
- But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales— they love to cheat.
- Israel boasts, "I am rich! I've made a fortune all by myself! No one has caught me cheating! My record is spotless!"
- "But I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.[5]
- I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables."
- But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls; their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field.
- Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he[6] earned a wife by tending sheep.
- Then by a prophet the Lord brought Jacob's descendants[7] out of Egypt; and by that prophet they were protected.
- But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins.
- Verses 12:1-14 are numbered 12:2-15 in Hebrew text.
- Hebrew 'Ephraim,' referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 12:8, 14.
- 'Jacob' sounds like the Hebrew word for “deceiver.”
- As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads 'to us.'
- Hebrew 'as in the days of your appointed feast.'
- Hebrew 'Israel.' See note on 10:11b.
- Hebrew 'brought Israel.' See note on 10:11b.