Hosea 12

CHAPTER 12

¹¹Ephraim feeds on ^awind

And pursues the ^beast wind continually;

He abounds in falsehood and destruction.

Moreover, ²he cuts a covenant with Assyria,

And oil is carried to Egypt.

Yahweh’s Contention with Judah

²And Yahweh has a ^acontention with Judah

And will punish Jacob ^baccording to his ways;

He will cause everything to return to him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he ^atook his brother by the heel,

And in his maturity he ^1bwrestled with God.

⁴Indeed, he ¹wrestled with the angel and prevailed;

He wept and ^asought His favor.

He found Him at ^bBethel,

And there He spoke with us,

⁵Even Yahweh, the God of hosts,

Yahweh is His ^1aname of remembrance.

⁶Therefore, ^areturn to your God,

^bKeep lovingkindness and justice,

And ^chope in your God continually.

⁷A ¹merchant, in whose hands are deceptive ^abalances,

He loves to oppress.

⁸And Ephraim said, “Surely I have become ^arich;

I have found wealth for myself;

In all my labors they will find in me

^bNo iniquity, which would be sin.”

⁹But I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt;

I will make you ^asettle in tents again,

As in the days of the appointed festival.

¹⁰And I have spoken to the ^aprophets,

And I ¹made visions abound,

And by the hand of the prophets I gave ^bparables.

¹¹Is there wickedness in Gilead?

Surely they are worthless.

In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;

Yes, ^atheir altars are like the stone heaps

Beside the furrows of the field.

¹²Now ^aJacob fled to the field of Aram,

And ^bIsrael worked for a wife,

And for a wife he kept sheep.

¹³But by a ^aprophet Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt,

And by a prophet he was kept.

^14aEphraim has provoked to bitter anger;

So his Lord will leave his ^bbloodguilt on him

And cause his ^creproach to return to him.