Hosea 12

1 Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth the burning heat: all the day long he multiplied lies and desolation: and he hath made a covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt.

Ephraim tries to herd the wind, chasing after the east wind all day long. Their lies and violence keep on increasing. They make a treaty with Assyria, and send olive oil to Egypt.

2 Therefore there is a judgment of the Lord with Juda, and a visitation for Jacob: he will render to him according to his ways, and according to his devices.

The Lord also has an accusation against Judah, and will punish Jacob for the way the people act; he will repay them for what they have done.

3 In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had success with an angel.

Even in the womb he fought with his brother; when he became a man he fought with God.

4 And he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.

He fought with the angel, and he won. He wept, and begged him for a blessing. Jacob found God at Bethel, and spoke with him there—

5 Even the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial.

the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his memorable name!

6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and hope in thy God always.

You must return to your God. Act lovingly and do what is right, and always wait for your God.

7 He is like Chanaan, there is a deceitful balance in his hand, he hath loved oppression.

A merchant who holds in his hands dishonest scales loves to swindle.

8 And Ephraim said: But yet I am become rich, I have found me an idol: all my labours shall not find me the iniquity that I have committed.

Ephraim says, “I'm rich! I've made myself wealthy! I've made so much from my work, and nobody can prove me guilty of doing wrong.”

9 And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the feast.

But I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live again in tents like you do at the time of that particular festival.

10 And I have spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.

I spoke through the prophets. I myself gave many visions and parables through the prophets.

11 If Galaad be an idol, then in vain were they in Galgal offering sacrifices with bullocks: for their altars also are as heaps in the furrows of the field.

If Gilead is idolatrous, they will surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Even their altars are like heaps of rocks in the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and was a keeper for a wife.

Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel worked there to gain a wife, earning a wife by looking after sheep.

13 But the Lord by a prophet brought Israel out of Egypt: and he was preserved by a prophet.

Through a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet they were cared for.

14 Ephraim hath provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his blood shall come upon him, and his Lord will render his reproach unto him.

Ephraim has really upset the Lord, and the Lord will let them have the consequences of their bloodshed and pay them back for their contempt.