Hosea 12

¹Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. ²The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

³He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:⁴Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us; ⁵Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lordis his memorial. ⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

⁷He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.⁸And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. ⁹And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. ¹⁰I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. ¹¹Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. ¹²And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. ¹³And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. ¹⁴Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.