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.
[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 Yahweh also has a lawsuit against Judah and will punish Jacob for what he has done; he will repay him for his deeds.
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 Jacob grasped his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he struggled 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 He struggled with the angel and won. He wept and begged for his favor. He met God at Bethel; there God 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 This is Yahweh, the God of hosts; “Yahweh” is his name to be called on.
[That was] the Commander of the armies of angels whose name is Yahweh [who talked with him]!
6 So turn to your God. Keep covenantal faithfulness 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 The merchants have false scales in their hands; they love to defraud.
The merchants [among you] use scales that do not weigh correctly; they love/like to cheat people.
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.”
[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 “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.
“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 spoke to the prophets, and I gave them many visions for you. By the hand of the prophets I gave 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 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.
[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 to the land of Aram; Israel worked in order to get a wife; and he kept flocks of sheep to get 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 Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and by a prophet he took care of them.
[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 angered Yahweh. So his Lord will leave his blood on him and will turn back on him his disgrace.
[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.
