NETtext - Hosea - 12

12:1  Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties with Assyria, and send olive oil as tribute to Egypt.

12:2  The LORD also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

12:3  In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God.

12:4  He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him!

12:5  As for the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is the name by which he is remembered!

12:6  But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.

12:7  The businessmen love to cheat; they use dishonest scales.

12:8  Ephraim boasts, "I am very rich! I have become wealthy! In all that I have done to gain my wealth, no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful."

12:9  "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old.

12:10  I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets."

12:11  Is there idolatry in Gilead? Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

12:12  Jacob fled to the country of Aram, then Israel worked to acquire a wife; he tended sheep to pay for her.

12:13  The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.

12:14  But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.