Hosea 12 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Ephraim feeds on wind, chasing the east wind all day long — piling up lies and violence. They cut deals with Assyria while shipping olive oil to Egypt.

Yahweh has a case against Judah too. He will hold Jacob accountable for how they've lived — pay them back for what they've done.

In the womb he grabbed his brother's heel; as a grown man he wrestled with God.

He wrestled with the angel and won — he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel, and there God spoke with us.

Yahweh, God of heaven's armies — Yahweh is the name he's known by.

So come back to your God. Hold on to committed love and justice, and wait for your God always.

A merchant with rigged scales in his hands — he loves to cheat people.

And Ephraim says, 'Look how rich I've gotten! I've built all this wealth for myself. In everything I've earned, no one will find anything wrong — nothing that counts as failure.'

But I am Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, like in the days of the appointed meeting.

I spoke through the prophets; I gave vision after vision. Through the prophets I told stories to reach you.

If Gilead is wicked, they will surely come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls — so their altars will become rubble, like stone piles in a plowed field.

Jacob fled to the plains of Aram. Israel worked as a servant to win a wife — for a wife, he tended sheep.

And through a prophet, Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt; through a prophet, they were guarded.

Ephraim has provoked bitter fury. His Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and throw his disgrace back in his face.