Hosea 12 Israel’s Sin “Ephraim feeds on the wind, chasing after the eastern winds, storing up lies and desolation day after day. They are making a contract with the Assyrians, and sending oil to Egypt.

ISV⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Israel’s Sin “Ephraim feeds on the wind, chasing after the eastern winds, storing up lies and desolation day after day. They are making a contract with the Assyrians, and sending oil to Egypt. ² The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does. ³ He circumvented his brother in the womb, and as an adult he fought with God. ⁴ He even fought the angel and won; he cried and prayed to him. Then at Bethel he found him, and there he spoke with us— ⁵ the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies— the LORD is his name. ⁶ So you, return to your God; guard grace and justice, and look to your God always. ⁷ “Now as for the merchant, deceitful balances remain in his hand, and he loves to defraud. ⁸ Ephraim claims, ‘I have become rich, I have made a fortune! Because of all my wealth, no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.’ ⁹ “Yet I remain the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the festival of that name. ¹⁰ I spoke to the prophets, giving revelation after revelation, and employing parables in the prophetic writings. ¹¹ “There’s iniquity in Gilead, isn’t there? They have become truly vain. They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; their altars are like piles of stone in furrowed fields. ¹² Jacob fled into the land of Aram; Israel served there to obtain his wife, tending sheep to gain his wife. ¹³ “By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was rescued. ¹⁴ Ephraim has stirred up violent anger; therefore the guilt of his blood will remain on him, and his Lord will repay him for his contempt.”