| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 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. | 1 The people of Israel 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. |
| 2The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does. | 2Now the LORD is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways, and pay him back for all he has done. |
| 3He circumvented his brother in the womb, and as an adult he fought with God. | 3Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought 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— | 4Yes, 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 — |
| 5the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies— the LORD is his name. | 5the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the LORD is his name! |
| 6So you, return to your God; guard grace and justice, and look to your God always. | 6So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him. |
| 7"Now as for the merchant, deceitful balances remain in his hand, and he loves to defraud. | 7But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales— they love to cheat. |
| 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.' | 8Israel boasts, “I am rich! I’ve made a fortune all by myself! No one has caught me cheating! My record is spotless!” |
| 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“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. |
| 10I spoke to the prophets, giving revelation after revelation, and employing parables in the prophetic writings. | 10I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables.” |
| 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. | 11But 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. |
| 12Jacob fled into the land of Aram; Israel served there to obtain his wife, tending sheep to gain his wife. | 12Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he earned a wife by tending sheep. |
| 13"By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was rescued. | 13Then by a prophet the LORD brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt; and by that prophet they were protected. |
| 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 the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the LORD, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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