Hosea 12:2-14

New International Version

²The 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)
³In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;^(E)
    as a man he struggled^(F) with God.
⁴He 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—
⁵the Lord God Almighty,
    the Lord is his name!^(H)
⁶But you must return^(I) to your God;
    maintain love and justice,^(J)
    and wait for your God always.^(K)

⁷The merchant uses dishonest scales^(L)
    and loves to defraud.
⁸Ephraim boasts,^(M)
    “I am very rich; I have become wealthy.^(N)
With all my wealth they will not find in me
    any iniquity or sin.”

⁹“I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt;^(O)
I will make you live in tents^(P) again,
    as in the days of your appointed festivals.
¹⁰I spoke to the prophets,
    gave them many visions
    and told parables^(Q) through them.”^(R)

¹¹Is Gilead wicked?^(S)
    Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?^(T)
    Their altars will be like piles of stones
    on a plowed field.^(U)
¹²Jacob fled to the country of Aram^[b];^(V)
    Israel served to get a wife,
    and to pay for her he tended sheep.^(W)
¹³The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,^(X)
    by a prophet he cared for him.^(Y)
¹⁴But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
    his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed^(Z)
    and will repay him for his contempt.^(AA)

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

13 When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;^(AB)
    he was exalted^(AC) in Israel.
    But he became guilty of Baal worship^(AD) and died.
²Now they sin more and more;
    they make^(AE) idols for themselves from their silver,^(AF)
cleverly fashioned images,
    all of them the work of craftsmen.^(AG)
It is said of these people,
    “They offer human sacrifices!
    They kiss^[c]^(AH) calf-idols!^(AI)”
³Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears,^(AJ)
    like chaff^(AK) swirling from a threshing floor,^(AL)
    like smoke^(AM) escaping through a window.

⁴“But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.^(AN)
You shall acknowledge^(AO) no God but me,^(AP)
    no Savior^(AQ) except me.
⁵I cared for you in the wilderness,^(AR)
    in the land of burning heat.
⁶When I fed them, they were satisfied;
    when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(AS)
    then they forgot^(AT) me.^(AU)
⁷So I will be like a lion^(AV) to them,
    like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(AW)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion^(AX) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.^(AY)

⁹“You are destroyed, Israel,
    because you are against me,^(AZ) against your helper.^(BA)
¹⁰Where is your king,^(BB) that he may save you?
    Where are your rulers in all your towns,
of whom you said,
    ‘Give me a king and princes’?^(BC)
¹¹So in my anger I gave you a king,^(BD)
    and in my wrath I took him away.^(BE)
¹²The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.^(BF)
¹³Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(BG) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time^(BH) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.^(BI)

¹⁴“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(BJ)
I will redeem them from death.^(BK)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(BL)

“I will have no compassion,
¹⁵    even though he thrives^(BM) among his brothers.
An east wind^(BN) from the Lord will come,
    blowing in from the desert;
his spring will fail
    and his well dry up.^(BO)
His storehouse will be plundered^(BP)
    of all its treasures.
¹⁶The people of Samaria^(BQ) must bear their guilt,^(BR)
    because they have rebelled^(BS) against their God.
They will fall by the sword;^(BT)
    their little ones will be dashed^(BU) to the ground,
    their pregnant women^(BV) ripped open.”^[d]

Repentance to Bring Blessing

14 ^[e]Return,^(BW) Israel, to the Lord your God.
    Your sins^(BX) have been your downfall!^(BY)
²Take words with you
    and return to the Lord.
Say to him:
    “Forgive^(BZ) all our sins
and receive us graciously,^(CA)
    that we may offer the fruit of our lips.^[f]^(CB)

Footnotes

Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
Hosea 13:2 Or “Men who sacrifice / kiss
Hosea 13:16 In Hebrew texts this verse (13:16) is numbered 14:1.
Hosea 14:1 In Hebrew texts 14:1-9 is numbered 14:2-10.
Hosea 14:2 Or offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls