Hosea 12:1–14

GOD’S CASE AGAINST JACOB’S HEIRS

12 Ephraim chasesG the windat

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

2 The 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.

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

and as an adult he wrestled with God.c

4 Jacob 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.A,f

5 The Lord is the God of Armies;

the Lord is his name.g

6 But you must return to your God.h

Maintain love and justice,i

and always put your hope in God.j

7 A merchant loves to extortk

with dishonest scales in his hands.l

8 But 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

9 I have been the Lord your God

ever sinceC the land of Egypt.o

I will make you live in tents again,p

as in the festival days.

10 I will speak through the prophetsq

and grant many visions;

I will give parables through the prophets.r

11 Since 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 rocksu

on the furrows of a field.

FURTHER INDICTMENT OF JACOB’S HEIRS

12 Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.v

Israel worked to earn a wife;w

he tended flocks for a wife.x

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

and Israel was tended by a prophet.

14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,z

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on himaa

and repay him for his contempt.ab