Hosea 12:7–14

⁷You are like a trader who uses dishonest scales.

You love to cheat others.

⁸People of Ephraim, you brag,

“We are very rich.

We’ve become wealthy.

And no one can prove we sinned

to gain all of this wealth.”

⁹The Lord says,

“I am the Lord your God.

I brought you out of Egypt.

But I will make you live in tents again.

That is what you did when you celebrated

the Feast of Booths in the desert.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets.

They saw many visions.

I gave you warnings through them.”

¹¹The people of Gilead are evil!

They aren’t worth anything!

Gilgal’s people sacrifice bulls to other gods.

Their altars will become like piles of stones

on a plowed field.

¹²Jacob ran away to the country of Aram.

There Israel served Laban to get a wife.

He took care of sheep to pay for her.

¹³The prophet Moses brought Israel up from Egypt.

The Lord used him to take care of them.

¹⁴But Ephraim’s people have made the Lord very angry.

Their Lord will hold them accountable for the blood they’ve spilled.

He’ll pay them back for the shameful things they’ve done.