Hosea, Chapter 12

1. Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind: he daily increases lies and desolation; and they make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.    2. The LORD has 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 to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us;    5. Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.    6. Therefore turn to your God: keep mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.    7. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loves to oppress.    8. And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself: in all my labors they shall find no iniquity in me that would be sin.    9. And I who am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt will yet make you 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 parables, 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 like 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 upon him.