12 Ephraim feedeth on wind,
and followeth after the east wind:
he daily increaseth lies and desolation;
and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians,
and oil is carried into Egypt.
² The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah,
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
according to his doings will he recompense him.

³ He took his brother by the heel in the womb,
and by his strength he had power with God:
⁴ yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed:
he wept, and made supplication unto him:
he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;
⁵ even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial.
⁶ Therefore turn thou to thy God:
keep mercy and judgment,
and wait on thy God continually.

⁷ He is a merchant,
the balances of deceit are in his hand:
he loveth to oppress.
⁸ And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich,
I have found me out substance:
in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
⁹ And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt
will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles,
as in the days of the solemn feast.
¹⁰ I have also spoken by the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes,
by the ministry of the prophets.
¹¹ Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity:
they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal;
yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

¹² And Jacob fled into the country of Syria,
and Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he kept sheep.
¹³ And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet was he preserved.
¹⁴ Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly:
therefore shall he leave his blood upon him,
and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.