Hosea 12
14 verses
Jacob becomes the lens through which Hosea examines Israel's character and historical identity, comparing the northern kingdom's deceit, fraud, and violence to the cunning and struggle that defined the patriarch Jacob before his transformation at Peniel. Israel has engaged in illicit commerce and business practices (Canaanite merchants with false scales), hoarding wealth while oppressing the poor, their accumulation rooted in deception rather than just dealings. The prophet recalls God's covenant with Jacob (renamed Israel after wrestling with the angel) and His guidance through Moses in the wilderness, emphasizing that Israel's present identity should be shaped by this history of grace and divine protection. Yet Israel has forgotten these foundational acts of divine favor and instead has devoted itself to idolatry and false worship, offering sacrifices to calves while forgetting the God who redeemed them from Egypt. The chapter urges Israel to return to the LORD through covenant loyalty and faithful steadfastness, reminding them that their true identity as Israel (God's covenant people) depends not on political power or accumulated wealth but on fidelity to the God who has shepherded them throughout their history.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
0 0Open verse page →
2
The Lord hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.
0 0Open verse page →
3
He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
0 0Open verse page →
God is faithful in every circumstance.. What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. The imagery here is agricultur...
4
Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth–el, and there he spake with us;
1 0Open verse page →
5
Even the Lord God of hosts; the Lord is his memorial.
0 0Open verse page →
6
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
0 0Open verse page →
7
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
0 0Open verse page →
8
And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.
0 0Open verse page →
9
And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast.
0 0Open verse page →
10
I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
0 0Open verse page →
11
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
0 0Open verse page →
12
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.
0 0Open verse page →
13
And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.
0 0Open verse page →
14
Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!