<t /><p class="poetry">How can I give you up,<n id="1" /> O Ephraim?p> <p class="poetry">How can I surrender you, O Israel?p> <p class="poetry">How can I treat you like Admah?p> <p class="poetry">How can I make you like Zeboiim?p> <p class="poetry">I have had a change of heart!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">All my tender compassions are aroused!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">I cannot carry out<n id="1" /> my fierce anger!p> <p class="poetry">I cannot totally destroy Ephraim!p> <p class="poetry">Because I am God, and not man &#8211; the Holy One among you &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will not come in wrath!p>

<t /><p class="poetry"><v id="(12:1)" /><n id="1" /> Ephraim has surrounded me with lies;p> <p class="poetry">the house of Israel has surrounded me<n id="2" /> with deceit.p> <p class="poetry">But Judah still roams about with<n id="3" /> God;p> <p class="poetry">he remains faithful to the Holy One.p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;p> <p class="poetry">he chases the east wind all day;p> <p class="poetry">he multiplies lies and violence.p> <p class="poetry">They make treaties<n id="1" /> with Assyria,p> <p class="poetry">and send olive oil as tribute<n id="2" /> to Egypt.p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim boasts,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I am very rich!p> <p class="poetry">I have become wealthy!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">In all that I have done to gain my wealth,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">no one can accuse me of any offense<n id="4" /> that is actually sinful.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do<n id="1" /> with idols anymore!p> <p class="poetry">I will answer him and care for him.p> <p class="poetry">I am like<n id="2" /> a luxuriant cypress tree; <n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">your fruitfulness comes from me!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The people of the Negev<n id="1" /> will take possession<n id="2" /> of Esau&#8217;s mountain,p> <p class="poetry">and the people of the Shephelah<n id="3" /> will takep> <p class="poetry">possession<n id="4" /> of the land of<n id="5" /> the Philistines.p> <p class="poetry">They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria,p> <p class="poetry">and the people of Benjamin will take possession<n id="6" /> of Gilead.<n id="7" />p>

I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow!<n id="1" /> I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion,<n id="2" /> like a warrior&#8217;s sword.p>

The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the <sc>Lordsc>.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, &#8220;Go down and head off the Midianites.<n id="1" /> Take control of the fords of the streams<n id="2" /> all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.&#8221;<n id="3" /> When all the Ephraimites had assembled,<n id="4" /> they took control of the fords<n id="5" /> all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine.<n id="1" /> Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim&#8217;s head, although he was the younger.<n id="1" /> Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh&#8217;s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.p>

<p class="poetry">May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor,p> <p class="poetry">and may his horns be those of a wild ox;p> <p class="poetry">with them may he gore all peoples,p> <p class="poetry">all the far reaches of the earth.p> <p class="poetry">They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and they are the thousands of Manasseh.p>

Joshua replied to them, &#8220;Since you have so many people,<n id="1" /> go up into the forest and clear out a place to live in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites, for the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you.&#8221;

As the <sc>Lordsc> had instructed, they gave him the city he requested &#8211; Timnath Serah in the Ephraimite hill country. He built up the city and lived in it.p>

<p class="bodytext">The Ephraimites said to him, &#8220;Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us<n id="1" /> when you went to fight the Midianites!&#8221; They argued vehemently with him.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Ephraimites assembled<n id="1" /> and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, &#8220;Why did you go and fight<n id="2" /> with the Ammonites without asking<n id="3" /> us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River<n id="1" /> opposite Ephraim.<n id="2" /> Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive<n id="3" /> said, &#8220;Let me cross over,&#8221; the men of Gilead asked<n id="4" /> him, &#8220;Are you an Ephraimite?&#8221; If he said, &#8220;No,&#8221;

The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives,<n id="1" /> capable men<n id="2" /> from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, &#8220;Go, explore the land.&#8221; They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah&#8217;s house.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite<n id="1" /> living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine<n id="2" /> from Bethlehem<n id="3" /> in Judah.