The descendants of Jacob must come back
1The Lord said:
‘The people of Ephraim continue
to tell lies to God.
They ask the Assyrians to help them,
but they will not help.
It is like someone who tries to catch the wind.
They tell lies everywhere they go.
They are looking for trouble
because they promise to serve the Assyrians
but they send olive oil to the Egyptians
and they ask the Egyptians to help them
against the Assyrians.’
2The Lord says that
the people of Judah have done wrong.
He will punish the descendants of Jacob
because they did wrong.
3Jacob started to cheat
even before he was born,
when he held on to his brother's foot,
and when he was a man,
he wrestled with God.
4He wrestled with the Angel and he won.
Jacob cried and asked God to bless him.
He met God at Bethel
and there God talked to Jacob.
5This is what the Lord has done.
He is the God who rules over all.
His name is the Lord.
6Descendants of Jacob, come back,
and turn to your God.
Love each other and do what is right,
and always believe that God will help you.
7But the merchants are not honest
when they sell something.
They cheat people.
8The people of Ephraim say:
‘We have become rich. We have a lot of money,
but we did not do anything wrong.
We have not sinned.’
9The Lord says:
‘I, the Lord your God, have known you
since before you came out of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again
like in the time when you were in the desert.
10I talked to the prophets
and showed them what would happen.
I told them parables so that they
could teach lessons to the people.
11The people of Gilead are bad.
They are worthless. They sacrifice bulls
in the town of Gilgal
but I will destroy their altars.
The stones from the altars
will be all over the wheat_fields.
12Jacob fled to the land of the Arameans.
He had to work there to get a wife.
He was a shepherd of the sheep
before he could get married.
13The Lord sent a prophet
to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
The prophet had to look after them.
14But the people of Ephraim
made the Lord very angry.
They killed a lot of people,
and the Lord will punish them for that.’
