International Standard Version
Hosea 12
1 a “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 b 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. c
6 So you, return to your God; guard grace and justice, and look to your God always.
7 “Now as for the merchant, d 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. e
10 I spoke to the prophets, giving revelation after revelation, and employing parables in the prophetic writings. f
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; g Israel served there to obtain his wife, tending sheep to gain h his wife.
13 “By a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he i 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.”