Hosea 12

1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and follows after the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and violence. They make a covenant with Assyria and carry olive oil to Egypt.

Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; Every day he multiplieth falsehood and violence; They make a league with Assyria, And oil is carried into Egypt.

2 Yahweh also has a lawsuit against Judah and will punish Jacob for what he has done; he will repay him for his deeds.

Therefore Jehovah hath a controversy with Judah. And he will punish Jacob for his ways, And requite him according to his doings.

3 In the womb Jacob grasped his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he struggled with God.

In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his strength he contended with God;

4 He struggled with the angel and won. He wept and begged for his favor. He met God at Bethel; there God spoke with him.

Yea, he contended with the angel, and prevailed; He wept, and made supplication to him. At Bethel he found him, And there he spake with us.

5 This is Yahweh, the God of hosts; “Yahweh” is his name to be called on.

And Jehovah, the God of hosts, Jehovah is his name.

6 So turn to your God. Keep covenantal faithfulness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

Therefore turn thou to thy God; Observe mercy and justice, And hope in thy God always!

7 The merchants have false scales in their hands; they love to defraud.

He is a Canaanite; in his hands are the balances of deceit; He loveth to oppress.

8 Ephraim said, “I have certainly become very rich; I have found wealth for myself. In all my work they will not find any iniquity in me, anything that would be sin.”

Yet Ephraim saith, Lo, I have become rich; I have found myself substance; In all my earnings can be found no transgression in which there is guilt.

9 “I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt. I will again make you live in tents, as in the days of the appointed festival.

Yet I, Jehovah, have been thy God from the land of Egypt; I will again cause thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

10 I spoke to the prophets, and I gave them many visions for you. By the hand of the prophets I gave parables.”

I have also spoken to the prophets, And I have given many visions, And by the prophets I have used similitudes.

11 If there is wickedness in Gilead, surely the people are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars will be like heaps of stone in the furrows of the fields.

Behold, Gilead is full of iniquity; Surely they have become corrupt; In Gilgal they sacrifice oxen, And their altars are like the heaps in the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram; Israel worked in order to get a wife; and he kept flocks of sheep to get a wife.

Jacob fled into the country of Syria, And Israel served for a wife, And for a wife he kept sheep.

13 Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and by a prophet he took care of them.

By a prophet Jehovah brought up Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet was he preserved.

14 Ephraim has bitterly angered Yahweh. So his Lord will leave his blood on him and will turn back on him his disgrace.

Ephraim hath provoked his Lord most bitterly; Therefore will he leave his blood upon him, And recompense to him his reproach.