6Therefore, return to your God,
         Observe kindness and justice,
         And wait for your God continually.

7A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,
         He loves to oppress.

8And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich,
         I have found wealth for myself;
         In all my labors they will find in me
         No iniquity, which would be sin.”

9But I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt;
         I will make you live in tents again,
         As in the days of the appointed festival.

10I have also spoken to the prophets,
         And I gave numerous visions,
         And through the prophets I gave parables.

11Is there iniquity in Gilead?
         Surely they are worthless.
         In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
         Yes, their altars are like the stone heaps
         Beside the furrows of the field.

12Now Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
         And Israel worked for a wife,
         And for a wife he kept sheep.

13But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel from Egypt,
         And by a prophet he was kept.

14Ephraim has provoked to bitter anger;
         So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
         And bring back his reproach to him.

NASB ©1995