Hosea 12
1 Ephraim is enjoying wind, And is pursuing an east wind, All the day lying and spoiling he multiplieth, And a covenant with Asshur they make, And oil to Egypt is carried.
[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 a controversy hath Jehovah with Judah, To lay a charge on Jacob according to his ways, According to his doings He returneth to 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 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 Yea, he is a prince unto the Messenger, And he overcometh [by] weeping, And he maketh supplication to Him, At Bethel He doth find him, And there He doth speak 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 Jehovah, God of the Hosts, Jehovah [is] His memorial.
[That was] the Commander of the armies of angels whose name is Yahweh [who talked with him]!
6 And thou, through thy God, dost turn, Kindness and judgment keep thou, And wait on thy 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! To oppress he hath loved.
The merchants [among you] use scales that do not weigh correctly; they love/like to cheat people.
8 And Ephraim saith: 'Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, All my labours — they find not 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 — Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, Again do I turn thee 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 unto the prophets, And I have multiplied vision, And by the hand of the prophets I use similes.
[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, Only, vanity they have been, In Gilead bullocks they have sacrificed, 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 doth flee to the country of Aram, And Israel doth serve for a wife, Yea, for a wife he hath kept watch.
[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 hath Jehovah brought up Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet it hath 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 hath provoked most bitterly, And his blood on himself he leaveth, And his reproach turn back to him doth his Lord!
[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.
