Osée 12

Surrounded with lies

¹Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, \q the house of Israel with deceit, \q and Judah still runs wild against God, \q against the faithful Holy One.^{ab 2}Ephraim tends the wind like a flock and chases the east wind; \q all day long he piles up lies and violence. \q They make a treaty with Assyria \q and send olive oil to Egypt.^{c 3}The LORD has a case to bring against Judah; \q he will punish Jacob for his ways \q and repay him for what he has done. ⁴In the womb he grabbed his brother by the heel, \q and in his full strength he contended with God. ⁵He contended with the angel and came through victorious; \q he wept and begged for his favor. \q At Bethel God found him, \q and there he spoke with us.^{de 6}The LORD is the God of Armies; \q the LORD is the name by which he is remembered. ⁷But you, with your God’s help, must return. \q Hold on to loyal love and justice, \q and wait for your God continually. ⁸A merchant with dishonest scales in his hand loves to cheat.^{f 9}Ephraim says, “I have become rich indeed; \q I have gained wealth for myself. \q In all my hard work \q no one will find any wrongdoing that counts as sin.”^{g 10}But I have been the LORD your God since you were in the land of Egypt; \q I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of the appointed festival.^{h 11}I spoke to the prophets; \q I gave them vision after vision, \q and through the prophets I spoke in parables.^{i 12}If Gilead is wicked, they have surely come to nothing. \q In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; \q their altars too will be like heaps of stones \q along the furrows of a field.^{jk 13}Jacob fled to the land of Aram; \q Israel worked to earn a wife, \q and for a wife he tended sheep. ¹⁴By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, \q and by a prophet Israel was kept safe. ¹⁵Ephraim has bitterly provoked God, \q so his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed on him \q and pay him back for his contempt.