Hosea - Chapter 12

1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

2. The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:

4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him [in] Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

5. Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD [is] his memorial.

6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

7. [He is] a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

8. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: [in] all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that [were] sin.

9. And I [that am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.

10. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

11. [Is there] iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars [are] as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

12. And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep].

13. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

14. Ephraim provoked [him] to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.