Hosea 12

^1aThe people of Israel^b feed on the wind;

they chase after the east wind all day long.

They pile up lies and violence;

they are making an alliance with Assyria

while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.

²Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.

He is about to punish Jacob^c for all his deceitful ways,

and pay him back for all he has done.

³Even in the womb,

Jacob struggled with his brother;

when he became a man,

he even fought with God.

⁴Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.

He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.

There at Bethel he met God face to face,

and God spoke to him^d—

⁵the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,

the Lord is his name!

⁶So now, come back to your God.

Act with love and justice,

and always depend on him.

⁷But no, the people are like crafty merchants

selling from dishonest scales—

they love to cheat.

⁸Israel boasts, “I am rich!

I’ve made a fortune all by myself!

No one has caught me cheating!

My record is spotless!”

⁹“But I am the Lord your God,

who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.

And I will make you live in tents again,

as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.^e

¹⁰I sent my prophets to warn you

with many visions and parables.”

¹¹But the people of Gilead are worthless

because of their idol worship.

And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;

their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone

along the edges of a plowed field.

¹²Jacob fled to the land of Aram,

and there he^f earned a wife by tending sheep.

¹³Then by a prophet

the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants^g out of Egypt;

and by that prophet

they were protected.

¹⁴But the people of Israel

have bitterly provoked the Lord,

so their Lord will now sentence them to death

in payment for their sins.