Hosea 12

GOD’S CASE AGAINST JACOB’S HEIRS

12Ephraim chases^G the wind^at

and pursues the east wind.^au

He continually multiplies lies and violence.

He makes a covenant with Assyria,^av

and olive oil is carried to Egypt.^aw

²The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.

He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct;^a

he will repay him based on his actions.

³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,^b

and as an adult he wrestled with God.^c

⁴Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought his favor.^d

He found him at Bethel,^e

and there he spoke with him.^Af

⁵The Lord is the God of Armies;

the Lord is his name.^g

⁶But you must return to your God.^h

Maintain love and justice,ⁱ

and always put your hope in God.^j

⁷A merchant loves to extort^k

with dishonest scales in his hands.^l

⁸But Ephraim thinks,

“How rich I have become;^m

I made it all myself.

In all my earnings,

no one can find any iniquity in meⁿ

that I can be punished for!”^B

JUDGMENT ON APOSTATE ISRAEL

⁹I have been the Lord your God

ever since^C the land of Egypt.^o

I will make you live in tents again,^p

as in the festival days.

¹⁰I will speak through the prophets^q

and grant many visions;

I will give parables through the prophets.^r

¹¹Since Gilead is full of evil,^s

they will certainly come to nothing.

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;^t

even their altars will be like piles of rocks^u

on the furrows of a field.

FURTHER INDICTMENT OF JACOB’S HEIRS

¹²Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.^v

Israel worked to earn a wife;^w

he tended flocks for a wife.^x

¹³The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,^y

and Israel was tended by a prophet.

¹⁴Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,^z

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him^aa

and repay him for his contempt.^ab