Hosea 12

1 [The leaders of] Israel are constantly wavering [about seeking help from other countries]. [Seeking their help is as useless as] [MET] chasing the wind. They pile up their lies and violent acts. [First, ] they make a treaty with Assyria, and [then they] send olive oil to [the rulers of] Egypt [to seek their help].

Ephraim [is] feeding wind and [is] pursuing an east wind all the day falsehood and violence he increases and a covenant with Assyria they are making and oil to Egypt it is carried.

2 Yahweh [says that he] will bring accusations against [the leaders of] Judah, and that he will punish [the descendants of] Jacob for what they have done.

And a case at law [belongs] to Yahweh with Judah and to visit [judgment] on Jacob according to ways his according to deeds his he will repay to him.

3 [When Jacob was] in his mother’s womb, he grabbed his brother [Esau’s] heel [because he wanted to be born first]. When Jacob grew up, he wrestled with God.

In the womb he took by [the] heel brother his and in manly vigor his he struggled with God.

4 He struggled with [the one who had appeared to him in the form of] an angel, and Jacob defeated him, but [then] he cried and asked the angel to bless him. [Later], God came to Jacob at Bethel and talked with him there.

And he struggled against an angel and he prevailed he wept and he sought favor to him Beth-el he found him and there he spoke with us.

5 [That was] the Commander of the armies of angels whose name is Yahweh [who talked with him]!

And Yahweh [the] God of hosts Yahweh [is] memorial his.

6 But you [people of Israel] must return to your God! You must faithfully love [him], and you must do what is fair/just and always depend on him.

And you in God your you will return loyalty and justice keep and wait to God your continually.

7 The merchants [among you] use scales that do not weigh correctly; they love/like to cheat people.

Canaan [who are] in hand his scales of deceit to defraud he loves.

8 [The people of] Israel boast, saying “We are [very] rich [DOU]; and we got all that money by our own efforts, and without committing any sin.”

And he has said Ephraim surely I have become rich I have found wealth for myself all toil my not people will find to me iniquity which [is] sin.

9 “I am Yahweh your God, [the one who brought your ancestors] out of Egypt. [And some day] I will force you to live in tents again [like your ancestors did] when [they celebrated] the Festival [of Living in Temporary Shelters].

And I [have been] Yahweh God your from [the] land of Egypt again I will cause to dwell you in tents like [the] days of an appointed feast.

10 [Many times] I spoke to the prophets, and I gave them many visions, and I gave them parables to tell [to the people].”

And I spoke to the prophets and I vision[s] I multiplied and by [the] hand of the prophets I gave parables.

11 [The people of] Gilead [city] are [RHQ] extremely wicked; they are worthless. The people sacrifice bulls in Gilgal [city], but their altars will [soon] become like [SIM] piles of stone [at the edge of] a plowed field.

[is] Gilead Wickedness surely worthlessness they are in Gilgal bulls they have sacrificed also altars their [are] like heaps of stones on [the] furrows of a field.

12 [Your ancestor] Jacob fled [from his brother Esau] and went to northwest Mesopotamia. He worked [for his uncle Laban for many years] to get a wife; he took care of [his uncle’s] sheep [to pay] for her.

And he fled Jacob [the] region of Aram and he served Israel for a wife and for a wife he kept [flocks].

13 [Many years later, ] Yahweh enabled a prophet to bring the [ancestors of you] people of Israel here from Egypt; that prophet, [Moses], took care of them.

And by a prophet he brought up Yahweh Israel from Egypt and by a prophet he was kept.

14 [But now the people of] Israel have caused [Yahweh] to become very angry; Yahweh says that they deserve to die because they caused [many others] to die [MTY]; he will pay them back for the sins that they have committed against him and for insulting him.

He has provoked to anger Ephraim bitterness and blood his on him he will leave and reproach his he will repay to him lord his.