Hosea 12

1 Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into 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 The LORD also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways and according to his deeds he will repay him.

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 in his manhood he contended 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 struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made petition to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him,

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 the LORD, the God of hosts; The LORD is his name of renown.

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

6 Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

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 A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.

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

8 Ephraim said, "Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won't find in me any 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 "But I the LORD your God brought you up from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

“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 I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

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

11 If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the 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 Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.

[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 By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.

[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 bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.

[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.