Hosea 12

1 “Ephraim surrounded me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with ungodliness. But now God has known them, and they will be called God’s holy people.”

2 Ephraim is an evil spirit. He chased the scorching wind all day, multiplied empty and worthless things, made a covenant with the Assyrians, and traded olive oil to Egypt.

3 The Lord has a case against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will repay him according to his conduct.

4 In the womb he caught his brother by the heel, and through his labor he grew strong with God.

5 He grew strong with a messenger and prevailed. They wept and begged me. They found me in House of On, and there a word was spoken to him.

6 The Lord God Almighty will be his memorial.

7 So return through your God. Guard mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God continually.

8 Canaan holds scales of wrongdoing in his hand and has loved to act as a tyrant.

9 Ephraim said,

“Still, I became rich and found rest for myself.”

None of his labors will be found useful to him because of the acts of wrongdoing by which he sinned.

10 “But I am the Lord your God who brought you up from Egypt. I will make you live in tents again as in the days of the feast.

11 I will speak to the prophets. I multiplied visions and was represented by the hands of the prophets.”

12 If Gilead does not exist, then surely the rulers sacrificing at Gilgal were false, and their altars became like turtles on untilled ground.

13 Jacob withdrew to the plain of Syria. Israel worked as a slave for a wife and kept watch for a wife.

14 Through a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and through a prophet Israel was guarded.

15 Ephraim became angry and provoked the Lord. His blood will be poured out on him, and the Lord will repay him for his disgrace.