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A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand.
    He loves to defraud.
Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich,
    I have found myself wealth.
    In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”

“But I am Yahweh your God from the land of Egypt.
    I will yet again make you dwell in tents,
    as in the days of the solemn feast.
10 I have also spoken to the prophets,
    and I have multiplied visions;
    and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.
11 If Gilead is wicked,
    surely they are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls.
    Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

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“Now as for the merchant,[a]
    deceitful balances remain in his hand,
        and he loves to defraud.
Ephraim claims,
    ‘I have become rich,
I have made a fortune!
    Because of all my wealth,
        no one will find any iniquity or sin in me.’

“Yet I remain the Lord your God,
    who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
I will make you live in tents again,
    as in the festival of that name.[b]
10 I spoke to the prophets,
    giving revelation after revelation,
        and employing parables in the prophetic writings.[c]

11 “There’s iniquity in Gilead, isn’t there?
    They have become truly vain.
They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;
    their altars are like piles of stone in furrowed fields.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 12:7 MT word for merchant sounds like Canaan
  2. Hosea 12:9 I.e. the Festival of Tents
  3. Hosea 12:10 Lit. parables by the hand of the prophets