Hosea 12

1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: He daily increaseth lies and desolation; And they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried into Egypt. 2 The Lord hath 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 unto him: He found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us; 5 Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial. 6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: Keep mercy and judgment, And wait on thy God continually. 7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: He loveth to oppress. 8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin. 9 And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt Will yet make thee 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 similitudes 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 as 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 unto him.