Hos 12 | HCSB | STEP | Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind . He continually multiplies lies and violence . He makes a covenant with Assyria , and olive oil is carried to Egypt .

‏ Hosea 12

God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs

1 Ephraim chases ^{▼▼Or feeds on, or tends} the wind ^b
and pursues the east wind. ^c
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a covenant with Assyria, ^d
and olive oil is carried to Egypt. ^e

2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways; ^f
He will repay him based on his actions.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, ^g
and as an adult he wrestled with God. ^h
4 Jacob struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor. ⁱ
He found him ^{▼▼Or Him} at Bethel, ^k
and there He spoke with him. ^{▼▼LXX, Syr; MT reads us
,} ^m
5 ^{▼▼Yahweh/Yah: Or The Lord; the personal name of God in Hebrew; "Yah" is the shortened form of the name.}Yahweh is the God of ^{▼▼Hosts/hosts: Military forces consisting of God's angels, sometimes including the sun, moon, and stars, and occasionally, Israel}Hosts;
Yahweh is His name. ^p
6 But you must return to your God. ^q
Maintain love and justice, ^r
and always put your hope in God. ^s

7 A merchant loves to extort ^t
with dishonest scales in his hands. ^u
8 But Ephraim says:
“How rich I have become; ^v
I made it all myself.
In all my earnings,
no one can find any crime in me ^w
that I can be punished for!” ^{▼▼Lit crime which is sin}

Judgment on Apostate Israel

9 I have been Yahweh your God
ever since ^{▼▼LXX reads God who brought you out of} the land of Egypt. ^z
I will make you live in tents again, ^aa
as in the festival days.
10 I spoke through the prophets ^ab
and granted many visions;
I gave parables through the prophets. ^ac
11 Since Gilead is full of evil, ^ad
they will certainly come to nothing.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; ^ae
even their altars will be like heaps of rocks ^af
on the furrows of a field.

Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs

12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram. ^ag
Israel worked to earn a wife; ^ah
he tended flocks for a wife. ^ai
13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet, ^aj
and Israel was tended by a prophet.

14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, ^ak
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him ^al
and repay him for his contempt. ^am