Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

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 says first, that Ephraim had provoked God by his high places Some, however, take the word תמרורים, tamerurim, for bitternesses. Then it is, “Israel or Ephraim have provoked God to bitterness.” But since this word in other places as in the thirty-first of Jeremiah, is taken for high places and as it clearly appears that the Prophet here inveighs avowedly against Israel and their vicious worship, I doubt not but that he points out these high places in which the Israelites appointed their false and impious modes of worship. Ephraim then have provoked him with their high places: ⁸⁸⁸⁸ Calvin is not correct as to the meaning of this word. There is no instance in which it means “high places;” in Jeremiah 31:21, to which reference is made, it means obelisks or pillars set up as way-marks. There is no doubt but that the word signifies here what is expressed in our version. Gesenius says, that it is to be taken here adverbially, and with him Newcome and most critics agree. Horsley renders the clause thus, — “Ephraim has given bitterest provocation.” Ephraim having in so many ways immersed themselves in their superstitions, provoked God in their high places.

Then his blood shall remain on him. As the word נתש, nuthesh, signifies “to pour out,” and signifies also to “remain,” some render it, “His blood shall remain;” others “Shall be poured upon him.” But this makes but a little difference as to what is meant; for the Prophet intends to show, that Ephraim would have to suffer the punishment of their impiety; as though he said, “They shall not at last escape from the hand of God, they shall receive the wages of their iniquities.”

And his reproach shall his Lord return unto him Here he calls God himself the Lord of Israel, though Israel had shaken off the yoke, and alienated themselves from the service of God. They cannot, he says, escape the authority of God, though they have spurned his law; though they have become wanton in their superstitions, they shall yet know that they remain under the hand and power of God, they shall know that they effect nothing by this their petulance; though they thus wander after their abominations, yet the Lord will not lose his right, which he had obtained for himself by redeeming Israel. Their Lord then shall render to them their own reproach, of which they are worthy.

⁸⁸ Calvin is not correct as to the meaning of this word. There is no instance in which it means “high places;” in Jeremiah 31:21, to which reference is made, it means obelisks or pillars set up as way-marks. There is no doubt but that the word signifies here what is expressed in our version. Gesenius says, that it is to be taken here adverbially, and with him Newcome and most critics agree. Horsley renders the clause thus, — “Ephraim has given bitterest provocation.”