| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1 "Ephraim feeds on the wind, chasing after the eastern winds, storing up lies and desolation day after day. They are making a contract with the Assyrians, and sending oil to Egypt. | 1Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties with Assyria, and send olive oil as tribute to Egypt. |
| 2The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does. | 2The LORD also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. |
| 3He circumvented his brother in the womb, and as an adult he fought with God. | 3In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God. |
| 4He even fought the angel and won; he cried and prayed to him. Then at Bethel he found him, and there he spoke with us— | 4He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him! |
| 5the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies— the LORD is his name. | 5As for the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is the name by which he is remembered! |
| 6So you, return to your God; guard grace and justice, and look to your God always. | 6But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you. |
| 7"Now as for the merchant, deceitful balances remain in his hand, and he loves to defraud. | 7The businessmen love to cheat; they use dishonest scales. |
| 8Ephraim claims, 'I have become rich, I have made a fortune! Because of all my wealth, no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.' | 8Ephraim boasts, "I am very rich! I have become wealthy! In all that I have done to gain my wealth, no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful." |
| 9"Yet I remain the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival of that name. | 9"I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. |
| 10I spoke to the prophets, giving revelation after revelation, and employing parables in the prophetic writings. | 10I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets." |
| 11"There's iniquity in Gilead, isn't there? They have become truly vain. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; their altars are like piles of stone in furrowed fields. | 11Is there idolatry in Gilead? Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field! |
| 12Jacob fled into the land of Aram; Israel served there to obtain his wife, tending sheep to gain his wife. | 12Jacob fled to the country of Aram, then Israel worked to acquire a wife; he tended sheep to pay for her. |
| 13"By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was rescued. | 13The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive. |
| 14Ephraim has stirred up violent anger; therefore the guilt of his blood will remain on him, and his Lord will repay him for his contempt." | 14But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown. |
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