12
📚Ephraim feeds on the wind,and follows the east wind.
Daily he multiplies lies
and violence.
And they make a covenant
with the Assyrians,
and oil is carried into Egypt.
12:1 This speaks of Israel’s useless attempts to find a military ally – Hos 5:13; 7:11; 8:9. Note on Assyria at 2 Kings 15:19.⚜
2 📚The LORD also brings a charge
against Judah 📖,
and will punish Jacob 📖 according
to his ways;
according to his deeds
he will repay him.
3 📚In the womb he took
his brother by the heel,
and with his strength
he struggled with God.
4 📚Yes, he struggled with the angel 📖,
and prevailed. He wept,
and pleaded with him.
He found him at Bethel 📖,
and there he spoke with us,
5 📚that is, the LORD 📖 God of hosts;
the LORD is his
memorial name.
6 📚Therefore turn to your God.
Maintain mercy and justice,
📖 and wait 📖 on your God continually.
12:6 Jacob had been a deceiver, but he later turned to God with his whole heart. This is what his descendants now needed to do.⚜
7 📚A merchant with the balances
of deceit in his hand loves to oppress;
8 📚And Ephraim says,
“Surely I have become rich 📖,
I have found wealth for myself.
In all my labours
they will find no evil in me
that can be called sin 📖”.
12:7-8 Ways in which the people of Israel revealed their deceitfulness. They deceived others and themselves, and thought their deceitfulness would never be discovered.⚜
9 📚“But I, who am the LORD
your God since the land of Egypt 📖,
will make you live in tents again 📖,
as in the days of the appointed feast.
10 📚I have also spoken 📖
by the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions 📖,
and given parables 📖 through
the prophets 📖”.
11 📚Is there wickedness in Gilead 📖?
Surely they are worthless.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal 📖; yes,
their altars are like heaps of stones
in a plowed field.
12 📚And Jacob fled to the country
of Syria,
and Israel served to get
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 he was preserved.
14 📚Ephraim provoked him
to anger most bitterly.
Therefore his Lord will leave
his bloodguilt 📖 on him,
and bring back his scorn onto him.
12:14 Ephraim signifies Israel. Their guilt was so great that God could no longer overlook it – Hos 1:6.⚜