Hosea 12

1 Ephraim feeds on wind and follows burning heat; all day long he multiplies lies and desolation. And he has entered into a pact with the Assyrians, and he has carried 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 Therefore, the judgment of the Lord is with Judah and a visitation is upon Jacob. He will repay him according to his ways and according to his inventions.

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 womb, he supplanted his brother; for in his good fortune, he had been guided by an angel.

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

4 And he prevailed over an angel, for he had been strengthened. He wept and petitioned him. He found him in Bethel, and there he has spoken to us.

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

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

6 And so, you should convert to your God. Keep mercy and judgment, and have hope in your God always.

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

7 Canaan, in his hand is a deceitful balance, he has chosen false accusations.

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

8 And Ephraim has said, “Nevertheless, I have become rich; I have found an idol for myself. All of my labors will not reveal to me the iniquity that I have committed.”

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 And I, the Lord your God from the land of Egypt, nevertheless will cause you to dwell in tabernacles, just as during the days of the feast.

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 And I have spoken through the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used parables through the hands of the prophets.

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 If Gilead is an idol, then they have been sacrificing cattle in Gilgal to no purpose. For even their altars are like clutter on the soil of the 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 Jacob fled into the region of Syria, and Israel served like a wife, and was served by a wife.

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

13 Yet by a prophet the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and he was served by a prophet.

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

14 Ephraim has provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his blood will overcome him, and his Lord will requite him for his shamefulness.

[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.