Hosea 12
1The people of Israel feed on the wind;
Hosea 12:1a Verses 12:1-14 are numbered 12:2-15 in Hebrew text.
Hosea 12:1b Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 12:8, 14.
they chase after the east wind all day long.
They pile up lies and violence;
they are making an alliance with Assyria
while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
2Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways,
Hosea 12:2 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew word for “deceiver.”
and pay him back for all he has done.
3Even in the womb,
Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
he even fought with God.
4Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
There at Bethel he met God face to face,
and God spoke to him—
Hosea 12:4 As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads to us.
5the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
the Lord is his name!
6So now, come back to your God.
Act with love and justice,
and always depend on him.
7But no, the people are like crafty merchants
selling from dishonest scales—
they love to cheat.
8Israel boasts, “I am rich!
I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
My record is spotless!”
9“But I am the Lord your God,
who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
And I will make you live in tents again,
as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.
Hosea 12:9 Hebrew as in the days of your appointed feast.
10I sent my prophets to warn you
with many visions and parables.”
11But the people of Gilead are worthless
because of their idol worship.
And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
along the edges of a plowed field.
12Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and there he earned a wife by tending sheep.
Hosea 12:12 Hebrew Israel. See note on 10:11b.
13Then by a prophet
the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt;
Hosea 12:13 Hebrew brought Israel. See note on 10:11b.
and by that prophet
they were protected.
14But the people of Israel
have bitterly provoked the Lord,
so their Lord will now sentence them to death
in payment for their sins.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
New Living, NLT, and the New Living Translation logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers. www.tyndale.com
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