Hosea 12

1 Ephraim's food is the wind, and he goes after the east wind: deceit and destruction are increasing day by day; they make an agreement with Assyria, and take oil into Egypt.

Ephraim feedeth on wind, and pursueth the east wind; the whole day he increaseth deceit and corruption; and a covenant do they make with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

2 The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will give punishment to Jacob for his ways; he will give him the reward of his acts.

But with Judah also hath the Lord [to hold] a controversy; and to punish Jacob according to his ways, according to his doings will he recompense him.

3 In the body of his mother he took his brother by the foot, and in his strength he was fighting with God;

In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his strength he strove with an angel.

4 He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;

Yea, he strove with an angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: in Beth-el he should find him, and there he will speak with us.

5 Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.

And the Lord God of hosts, the Eternal One is his memorial.

6 So then, come back to your God; keep mercy and right, and be waiting at all times on your God.

Therefore do thou return to thy God: keep goodness and justice, and wait on thy God continually.

7 As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.

But like a merchant, who hath the balances of deceit in his hand, loving to overreach,

8 And Ephraim said, Now I have got wealth and much property; in all my works no sin may be seen in me.

Did Ephraim say, I am certainly become rich, I have acquired substance unto myself: it is all through my labors; they will find no iniquity in me, that could be sin.

9 But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will give you tents for your living-places again as in the days of the holy meeting.

And I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: I will yet make thee dwell in tents, as in the days of antiquity.

10 My word came to the ears of the prophets and I gave them visions in great number, and by the mouths of the prophets I made use of comparisons.

And I have spoken through the prophets, and I myself have multiplied visions, and by the means of the prophets have I spoken in similitudes.

11 In Gilead there is evil. They are quite without value; in Gilgal they make offerings of oxen; truly their altars are like masses of stones in the hollows of a ploughed field.

If in Gil'ad there was misfortune, [it is because] there was naught but idolatry; in Gilgal they sacrificed bullocks [to idols]: their altars also are as stone-heaps on the furrows of the fields.

12 And Jacob went in flight into the field of Aram, and Israel became a servant for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

And Jacob fled into the fields of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [the flocks].

13 And by a prophet the Lord made Israel come up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept safe.

And by a prophet did the Lord bring Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he guarded.

14 I have been bitterly moved to wrath by Ephraim; so that his blood will be on him, and the Lord will make his shame come back on him.

[Yet] Ephraim provoked [him] to anger most bitterly: therefore will his Lord cast his blood-guiltiness upon him, and his reproach will he recompense unto him.