Hosea 12

1 “Ephraim is enjoying wind, And is pursuing an east wind, All the day he multiplies lying and spoiling, And they make a covenant with Asshur, And oil is carried to Egypt.

2 And YHWH has a controversy with Judah, To lay a charge on Jacob according to his ways, He returns to him according to his doings.

3 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And by his strength he was a prince with God,

4 Indeed, he is a prince to the Messenger, And he overcomes [by] weeping, And he makes supplication to Him, At Bethel He finds him, And there He speaks with us,

5 Even YHWH, God of the Hosts, YHWH [is] His memorial.

6 And you, through your God, turn, Keep kindness and judgment, And wait on your God continually.

7 Canaan! In his hand [are] balances of deceit! He has loved to oppress.

8 And Ephraim says, Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, All my labors—they do not find against me iniquity that [is] sin.

9 And I—your God YHWH from the land of Egypt, Again I turn you back into tents, As in the days of the appointed time.

10 And I have spoken to the prophets, And I have multiplied vision, And by the hand of the prophets I use allegories.

11 Surely Gilead [is] iniquity, They have been only vanity, In Gilead they have sacrificed bullocks, Also their altars [are] as heaps, on the furrows of a field.

12 And Jacob flees to the country of Aram, And Israel serves for a wife, Indeed, he has kept watch for a wife.

13 And by a prophet has YHWH brought up Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet it has been watched.

14 Ephraim has most bitterly provoked, And he leaves his blood on himself, And his Lord turns his reproach back to him!”