Hosea 12:3-14 ▼

3 In the womb he attacked his brother; in his manly vigor he struggled with God.

4 He struggled with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God at Bethel, and there he spoke with him!

5 As for the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is the name by which he is remembered!

6 But you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you.

7 The businessmen love to cheat; they use dishonest scales.

8 Ephraim boasts, |I am very rich! I have become wealthy! In all that I have done to gain my wealth, no one can accuse me of any offense that is actually sinful.|

9 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old.

10 I spoke to the prophets; I myself revealed many visions; I spoke in parables through the prophets.|

11 Is there idolatry in Gilead? Certainly its inhabitants will come to nothing! Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram, then Israel worked to acquire a wife; he tended sheep to pay for her.

13 The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.

14 But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.