Moff HOS Chapter 12

12 Ephraim herds the wind

and hunts a sirocco,

piling up fraud and falsehood daily,

striking a bargain with Assyria,

carrying presents of oil to Egypt.

2 The Eternal arraigns Israel,

to punish Jacob for his doings,

to requite him for his deeds.

3a “Within the womb Jacob supplanted his brother;

12 he fled to the land of Aram,

where Israel served for a wife,

for a wife he herded sheep.

3b In manhood he strove with God,

4 strove with the Angel and prevailed;

he wept and entreated Him;

he met Him at Bethel,

and there He said to him

5 [[the Eternal is the God of hosts,

the Eternal is his name]],

6 ‘Dwell in your tents,

ever be kind and just,

and in your God put your unfailing trust.’ ”

7 Swindler! he loves to practise fraud,

the false scales in his hand.

8 Does Ephraim say, “Well, I am rich,

I’ve wealth at my command”?

Not all his gains will be enough

to expiate his guilt.

9 For I am your God, the Eternal,

ever since you left Egypt,

and I can send you back to live

in tents as in the desert long ago.

10 I spoke to the prophets,

I gave many a vision;

and by the prophets I will make them perish

11 together with their empty idols–

so worthless are thy now

[[By a prophet the Eternal brought

13 Israel from Egypt, by a prophet

they were kept alive]];

11 at Gilgal they sacrifice to demons!

So shall their altars be heaps of stones

among the furrows of a field.

14 Ephraim has provoked God bitterly;

so I will crush him suddenly,

and repay him for his insults.