Hosea 12

¹Ephraim feeds on the wind;

he pursues the east wind all day

and multiplies lies and violence.

He makes a treaty with Assyria

and sends olive oil to Egypt.

²The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;

he will punish Jacob according to his ways

and repay him according to his deeds.

³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;

as a man he struggled with God.

⁴He struggled with the angel and overcame him;

he wept and begged for his favor.

He found him at Bethel

and talked with him there—

⁵the Lord God Almighty,

the Lord is his name!

⁶But you must return to your God;

maintain love and justice,

and wait for your God always.

⁷The merchant uses dishonest scales

and loves to defraud.

⁸Ephraim boasts,

“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.

With all my wealth they will not find in me

any iniquity or sin.”

⁹“I have been the Lord your God

ever since you came out of Egypt;

I will make you live in tents again,

as in the days of your appointed festivals.

¹⁰I spoke to the prophets,

gave them many visions

and told parables through them.”

¹¹Is Gilead wicked?

Its people are worthless!

Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?

Their altars will be like piles of stones

on a plowed field.

¹²Jacob fled to the country of Aram;

Israel served to get a wife,

and to pay for her he tended sheep.

¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,

by a prophet he cared for him.

¹⁴But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;

his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed

and will repay him for his contempt.