12:1 *Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. / *In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
12:2 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob* according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. / *Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
12:3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.
12:4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there -
12:5 the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his name!
12:6 But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.
12:7 The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud.
12:8 Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.”
12:9 “I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals.
12:10 I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them.”
12:11 Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars will be like piles of stones on a plowed field.
12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram*; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep. / *That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
12:13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him.
12:14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.