Hosea 12
1
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: He daily increaseth lies and desolation; And they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried into Egypt.
2
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; According to his doings will he recompense him.
3
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, And by his strength he had power with God:
4
Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: He wept, and made supplication unto him: He found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;
5
Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial.
6
Therefore turn thou to thy God: Keep mercy and judgment, And wait on thy God continually.
7
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: He loveth to oppress.
8
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
9
And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt Will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
10
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, And used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.
11
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
12
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, And Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
13
And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, And by a prophet was he preserved.
14
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: Therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, And his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.