Hosea 12
1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily multiplieth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
[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].
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.
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.
3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
[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.
4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us;
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.
5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.
[That was] the Commander of the armies of angels whose name is Yahweh [who talked with him]!
6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
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.
7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
The merchants [among you] use scales that do not weigh correctly; they love/like to cheat people.
8 And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found for myself substance: in all my labours they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin.
[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.”
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.
“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].
10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
[Many times] I spoke to the prophets, and I gave them many visions, and I gave them parables to tell [to the people].”
11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
[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.
12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
[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.
13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
[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.
14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return to him.
[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.
