Hosea 12

¹Ephraim 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.

²Yahweh also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him.

³In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.

⁴Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

⁵even Yahweh, the God of Armies; Yahweh is his name of renown!

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

⁷A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.

⁸Ephraim 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.”

⁹“But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

¹⁰I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.

¹¹If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹²Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.

¹³By a prophet Yahweh brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.

¹⁴Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.