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.

[The leaders of] Israel are constantly wavering [about seeking help from other countries]. [Seeking their help is as useless as] [MET] chasing the wind. They pile up their lies and violent acts. [First, ] they make a treaty with Assyria, and [then they] send olive oil to [the rulers of] Egypt [to seek their help].

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.

Yahweh [says that he] will bring accusations against [the leaders of] Judah, and that he will punish [the descendants of] Jacob for what they have done.

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

[When Jacob was] in his mother’s womb, he grabbed his brother [Esau’s] heel [because he wanted to be born first]. When Jacob grew up, he wrestled 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,

He struggled with [the one who had appeared to him in the form of] an angel, and Jacob defeated him, but [then] he cried and asked the angel to bless him. [Later], God came to Jacob at Bethel and talked with him there.

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

[That was] the Commander of the armies of angels whose name is Yahweh [who talked with him]!

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

But you [people of Israel] must return to your God! You must faithfully love [him], and you must do what is fair/just and always depend on him.

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

The merchants [among you] use scales that do not weigh correctly; they love/like to cheat people.

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.

[The people of] Israel boast, saying “We are [very] rich [DOU]; and we got all that money by our own efforts, and without committing any 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.

“I am Yahweh your God, [the one who brought your ancestors] out of Egypt. [And some day] I will force you to live in tents again [like your ancestors did] when [they celebrated] the Festival [of Living in Temporary Shelters].

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

[Many times] I spoke to the prophets, and I gave them many visions, and I gave them parables to tell [to the people].”

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.

[The people of] Gilead [city] are [RHQ] extremely wicked; they are worthless. The people sacrifice bulls in Gilgal [city], but their altars will [soon] become like [SIM] piles of stone [at the edge of] a plowed field.

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

[Your ancestor] Jacob fled [from his brother Esau] and went to northwest Mesopotamia. He worked [for his uncle Laban for many years] to get a wife; he took care of [his uncle’s] sheep [to pay] for her.

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

[Many years later, ] Yahweh enabled a prophet to bring the [ancestors of you] people of Israel here from Egypt; that prophet, [Moses], took care of them.

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

[But now the people of] Israel have caused [Yahweh] to become very angry; Yahweh says that they deserve to die because they caused [many others] to die [MTY]; he will pay them back for the sins that they have committed against him and for insulting him.