A Reproof of Ephraim, Judah, and Jacob
1Ephraim feeds on the wind
and pursues the east wind all day long;
he multiplies lies and violence;
he makes a covenant with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
2Yahweh has a charge to bring against Judah.
He will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel,
and in his vigor he wrestled with God.
- HOS 12:3[NOTE]JACOB. Hosea retells Jacob's story, Genesis 25:26 and 32:24 to 30. These are Hosea's words, so they are black. Israel is just like its father: a grabber who still needs to wrestle with God.
4Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought His favor;
he found Him at Bethel
and spoke with Him there—
5Yahweh God of Hosts,
Yahweh is His name of renown.
6But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and always wait on your God.
7A merchant loves to defraud
with dishonest scales in his hands.
8And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become!
I have found wealth for myself.
In all my labors, they can find in me
no iniquity that is sinful.”
9But I am Yahweh your God
ever since the land of Egypt.
I will again make you dwell in tents,
as in the days of the appointed feast.
- HOS 12:9[NOTE]TENTS AGAIN. Like the Feast of Booths, when Israel lived in tents to remember the wilderness, Leviticus 23:42 to 43.
10I spoke through the prophets
and multiplied their visions;
I gave parables through the prophets.
11Is there iniquity in Gilead?
They will surely come to nothing.
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones
in the furrows of the field.
- HOS 12:11[DEMONIC]Israel sacrifices bulls at Gilgal on altars that will become rubble
12Jacob fled to the land of Aram
and Israel worked for a wife—
for a wife he tended sheep.
13But by a prophet Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he was preserved.
14Ephraim has provoked bitter anger,
so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him
and repay him for his contempt.