Hosea 12:1-14
12 “Eʹphra·im is feeding on wind*+ and chasing after the east wind all day long.+ Lying and despoiling are what he multiplies.+ And a covenant with As·syrʹi·a they conclude,+ and to Egypt oil itself is brought.
2 “And Jehovah has a legal case with Judah,+ even to hold an accounting against Jacob according to his ways;+ according to his dealings he will repay him.+
3 In the belly he seized his brother by the heel,*+ and with his dynamic energy he contended with God.*+
4 And he kept contending with an angel and gradually prevailed.+ He wept, that he might implore favor for himself.”+
At Bethʹel He got to find him,+ and there He began talking with us.*+
5 And Jehovah the God of the armies,*+ Jehovah is his memorial.+
6 “And as respects you, to your God you should return,+ keeping loving-kindness*+ and justice;+ and let there be a hoping in your God constantly.+
7 As regards [the] tradesman,* in his hand are the scales of deception;+ to defraud is what he has loved.+
8 And Eʹphra·im keeps saying, ‘Indeed, I have become rich;+ I have found valuable things for myself.+ As regards all my toiling, they will find, on my part, no error that is sin.’+
9 “But I am Jehovah your God from the land of Egypt.+ Yet I shall make you dwell in the tents as in the days of an appointed time.
10 And I spoke to the prophets,+ and visions I myself multiplied, and by the hand of the prophets I kept making likenesses.+
11 “With Gilʹe·ad* what is uncanny,+ also untruth,+ have occurred. In Gilʹgal they have sacrificed even bulls.+ Moreover, their altars are* like piles of stones in the furrows of the open field.+
12 And Jacob proceeded to run away to the field of Syria,*+ and Israel+ kept serving for a wife,*+ and for a wife he guarded [sheep].+
13 And by a prophet Jehovah brought up Israel out of Egypt,+ and by a prophet he was guarded.+
14 Eʹphra·im caused offense to bitterness,+ and his deeds of bloodshed he leaves upon his own self,+ and his reproach his grand Master* will repay to him.”+
Footnotes
^ Or, “he supplanted his brother.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼElo·himʹ.
^ “Us,” MTVg; LXXSy, “him.”
^ “The God of the armies,” MVg; LXX, “the God almighty.”
^ Or, “loyal love.”
^ Or, “will be.”
^ “With Gilead,” by a slight correction; M, “If Gilead.”
^ “Syria,” LXXVg; MSy, “Aram.”
^ Or, “for a woman.” Heb., beʼish·shahʹ.
