Hosea 12

God’s Case against Jacob’s Heirs

1 Ephraim chases  * 12:1 Or grazes on, or tends the wind  * 12:1 Jr 22:22; Hs 4:19

and pursues the east wind.  * 12:1 Gn 41:6; Ezk 17:10

He continually multiplies lies and violence.

He makes a covenant with Assyria,  * 12:1 Hs 5:13; 7:11; 8:9

and olive oil is carried to Egypt.  * 12:1 2Kg 17:4

2 The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.

He is about to punish Jacob according to his conduct;  * 12:2 Hs 4:9; 7:2

he will repay him based on his actions.

3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,  * 12:3 Gn 25:26; 27:36

and as an adult he wrestled with God.  * 12:3 Gn 32:24–28

4 Jacob struggled with the angel and prevailed;

he wept and sought his favor.  * 12:4 Gn 32:26

He found him at Bethel,  * 12:4 Gn 28:13–15; 35:10–15

and there he spoke with him.  * 12:4 LXX, Syr; MT reads us,* 12:4 Gn 28:10–22; 35:1–14

5 The Lord is the God of Armies;

the Lord is his name.  * 12:5 Ex 3:15

6 But you must return to your God.  * 12:6 Hs 6:1–3; 10:12

Maintain love and justice,  * 12:6 Hs 6:6

and always put your hope in God.  * 12:6 Mc 7:7

7 A merchant loves to extort  * 12:7 Hs 7:14

with dishonest scales in his hands.  * 12:7 Pr 11:1; Am 8:5; Mc 6:11

8 But Ephraim thinks,

"How rich I have become;  * 12:8 Ps 62:10; Hs 13:6

I made it all myself.

In all my earnings,

no one can find any iniquity in me  * 12:8 Hs 4:8; 14:1; Am 3:15; 6:4–6

that I can be punished for! "  * 12:8 Lit iniquity which is sin

Judgment on Apostate Israel

9 I have been the Lord your God

ever since  * 12:9 LXX reads God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.  * 12:9 Hs 11:1; 13:3

I will make you live in tents again,  * 12:9 Lv 23:42

as in the festival days.

10 I will speak through the prophets  * 12:10 Jr 7:25

and grant many visions;

I will give parables through the prophets.  * 12:10 Ezk 17:2; 20:49

11 Since Gilead is full of evil,  * 12:11 Hs 6:8

they will certainly come to nothing.

They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;  * 12:11 Hs 4:15; 9:15

even their altars will be like piles of rocks  * 12:11 Hs 8:11; 10:1–2

on the furrows of a field.

Further Indictment of Jacob’s Heirs

12 Jacob fled to the territory of Aram.  * 12:12 Gn 28:5

Israel worked to earn a wife;  * 12:12 Gn 29:20

he tended flocks for a wife.  * 12:12 Gn 29:1–20

13 The Lord brought Israel from Egypt by a prophet,  * 12:13 Ex 14:19–22; Is 63:11–14

and Israel was tended by a prophet.

14 Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,  * 12:14 2Kg 17:7–18

so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him  * 12:14 Ezk 18:10–13

and repay him for his contempt.  * 12:14 Dn 11:18; Mc 6:16