Hosea 12

1 [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].

But Ephraim is an evil spirit, he has chased the east wind all the day: he has multiplied empty and vain things, and made a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil has gone in the way of traffic into Egypt.

2 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.

And the Lord [has] a controversy with Juda, in order to punish Jacob: according to his ways and according to his practices will he recompense him.

3 [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.

He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his labors he had power with God.

4 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.

And he prevailed with the angel and was strong: they wept, and entreated me: they found me in the house of On, and there [a word] was spoken to them.

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

But the Lord God Almighty shall be his memorial.

6 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.

You therefore shall return to your God: keep you mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God continually.

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

[As for] Chanaan, in his hand is a balance of unrighteousness: he has loved to tyrannize.

8 [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.”

And Ephraim said, Nevertheless I am rich, I have found refreshment to myself. None of his labors shall be found [available] to him, by reason of the sins which he has committed.

9 “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].

But I the Lord your God brought you up out of the land of Egypt: I will yet cause you to dwell in tabernacles, according to the days of the feast.

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

And I will speak to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the means of the prophets I was represented.

11 [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.

If Galaad exists not, then the chiefs in Galaad when they sacrificed were false, and their altars were as heaps on the ground of the field.

12 [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.

And Jacob retreated into the plain of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and waited for a wife.

13 [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.

And the Lord brought Israel out of the land of Egypt by a prophet, and by a prophet was he preserve.

14 [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.

Ephraim was angry and excited, therefore his blood shall be poured out upon him, and the Lord shall recompense to him his reproach.