Hosea

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.”+