12 1-5 Ephraim, obsessed with god-fantasies,
    chases ghosts and phantoms.
He tells lies nonstop,
    soul-destroying lies.
Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria
    and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.
God is bringing charges against Israel.
    Jacob’s children are hauled into court to be punished.
In the womb, that heel, Jacob, got the best of his brother.
    When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.
But God would not be bested.
    God bested him.
Brought to his knees,
    Jacob wept and prayed.
God found him at Bethel.
    That’s where he spoke with him.
God is God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    God-Revealed, God-Known.

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The Lord has a charge(A) to bring against Judah;(B)
    he will punish(C) Jacob[a] according to his ways
    and repay him according to his deeds.(D)
In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;(E)
    as a man he struggled(F) with God.
He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
    he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel(G)
    and talked with him there—

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.