Hosea Chapter 12
1 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; Israel comes to me with deceit. They follow Baal and run after the sanctuaries.

2 Ephraim feeds on wind, forever chasing the east wind, always more given to falsehood and violence. They have made a treaty with Assyria and brought oil to Egypt.

3 Yahweh has brought Jacob to trial. He will call him to account for his ways and repay his deeds.

4 In the womb he supplanted his bro ther and later he struggled with God, battling until he got the better of the angel.

5 The angel, in fact, wept and pleaded with him! He met him at Bethel and there he spoke to him.

6 (Yahweh, the God of ar mies, Yahweh is his Name.)

7 You must return to your God, practice love and justice and trust in your God.)

8 Canaan has dishonest scales and likes to cheat.

9 Ephraim boasts, “I have be come rich and possess a fortune.” Yet he will be left with nothing of what he has treasured for he was doing wrong.

10 I am Yahweh, your God, since the days of Egypt; I will have you live in tents again as in the days of Meeting.

11 Then I will speak to the prophets, give them ma ny visions and teach you through their parables.

12 The people of Gilead are wicked; they are false. They offered sacrifices to bulls in Gilgal. This is why their altars will become ruins on a plowed field.

13 Jacob fled to the plains of Aram; Israel served to have a wife, and for her sake he cared for sheep.

14 Yahweh, in turn brought Israel out of Egypt through a prophet; by means of this prophet he cared for them.

15 Ephraim, nevertheless, angered him bitterly. The Lord will bring down on him the blood he shed and repay him for his contempt.