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Ephraim herds the wind,

and pursues the east wind all day long;

they multiply falsehood and violence;

they make a treaty with Assyria,

and oil is carried to Egypt.

The Long History of Rebellion

The L ord has an indictment against Judah,

and will punish Jacob according to his ways,

and repay him according to his deeds.

In the womb he tried to supplant his brother,

and in his manhood he strove with God.

He strove with the angel and prevailed,

he wept and sought his favor;

he met him at Bethel,

and there he spoke with him.

The L ord the God of hosts,

the L ord is his name!

But as for you, return to your God,

hold fast to love and justice,

and wait continually for your God.

A trader, in whose hands are false balances,

he loves to oppress.

Ephraim has said, “Ah, I am rich,

I have gained wealth for myself;

in all of my gain

no offense has been found in me

that would be sin.”

I am the L ord your God

from the land of Egypt;

I will make you live in tents again,

as in the days of the appointed festival.

I spoke to the prophets;

it was I who multiplied visions,

and through the prophets I will bring destruction.

In Gilead there is iniquity,

they shall surely come to nothing.

In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,

so their altars shall be like stone heaps

on the furrows of the field.

Jacob fled to the land of Aram,

there Israel served for a wife,

and for a wife he guarded sheep.

By a prophet the L ord brought Israel up from Egypt,

and by a prophet he was guarded.

Ephraim has given bitter offense,

so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him

and pay him back for his insults.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Prophet now employs another kind of reproof, — that the Israelites did not consider from what source they had proceeded, and were forgetful of their origin. And the Prophet designedly touches on this point; for we know how boldly and proudly the people boasted of their own eminence. For as a heathen gloried that he was an Athenian, so also the Jews think that all we are brute animals, and imagine that they have a different origin from the rest of mankind, because they are the posterity of Abraham. Since then they were blinded by such a pride as this God meant to undeceive them, as he does here: “Jacob your father, who was he? What was his condition? What was his nobility? What was his power? What was his dignity and eminence according to the flesh? Yea, truly, he was a fugitive from his own country: had he always lived at home, his father was but a sojourner; but he was constrained to flee into Syria. And how splendidly did he live there? He was indeed with his uncle; but he was treated no better than if he had been some worthless slave: He served for a wife And how did he serve? He was a keeper of sheep. Go then now and boast of your dignity, as if ye were nobler than others, as if your condition were better than that of the common sort of people.” God then brings against them the condition of their father, in whose name they gloried, but who was an abject person and a fugitive, who was like a worthless slave, who was a keeper of sheep; who, in short, had nothing which could be deemed reputable among men.