The Lord's Indictment of Israel and Judah

Hosea 12

2 c The Lord has an indictment against Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
he will repay him according to his deeds.
 3 d In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
and in his manhood he strove with God.
 4 He strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
e He met God 1 at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us -
5 the Lord, the God of hosts,
f the Lord is his memorial name:
 6 "So you, g by the help of your God, return,
h hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God."

7 A merchant, in whose hands are i false balances,
he loves j to oppress.
 8 Ephraim has said, "Ah, but k I am rich;
I have found wealth for myself;
in all my labors l they cannot find in me iniquity or sin."
 9 m I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you n dwell in tents,
as in the days of the appointed feast.

10 o I spoke to the prophets;
it was I who multiplied p visions,
and through the prophets gave parables.
 11 q If there is iniquity in Gilead,
they shall surely come to nothing:
r in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
s their altars also are like stone heaps
t on the furrows of the field.
 12 u Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
there Israel v served for a wife,
and for a wife he guarded sheep.
 13 By w a prophet x the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet he was guarded.
 14 y Ephraim has given bitter provocation;
so his Lord z will leave his bloodguilt on him
a and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.

  1. Cross References
    Hosea 4:1
    Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
  2. Cross References
    Genesis 25:26
    Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
    Genesis 27:36
    Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?
  3. Cross References
    Genesis 28:12
    And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
    Genesis 28:19
    He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
    Genesis 35:9 - 10
    God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
    Genesis 35:15
    So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 3:15
    God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
  5. Cross References
    Hosea 14:1 - 2
    Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
    Joel 2:12 - 13
    Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
  6. Cross References
    Micah 6:8
    He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
  7. Cross References
    Amos 8:5
    Saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances.
    Micah 6:11
    Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
    Proverbs 11:1
    A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
    Proverbs 20:23
    Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good.
  8. Cross References
    Micah 2:2
    They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
  9. Cross References
    Zechariah 11:5
    Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich,' and their own shepherds have no pity on them.
    Revelation 3:17
    For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
  10. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 29:19
    One who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, 'I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.
  11. Cross References
    Hosea 13:4
    But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.
  12. Cross References
    Leviticus 23:39 - 43
    On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
    Nehemiah 8:14 - 18
    And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month.
  13. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:13
    Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
  14. Cross References
    Joel 2:28
    And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
  15. Cross References
    Hosea 6:8
    Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood.
  16. Cross References
    Hosea 4:15
    Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, "As the Lord lives.
    Hosea 9:15
    Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
  17. Cross References
    Hosea 8:11
    Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.
  18. Cross References
    Hosea 10:4
    They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
  19. Cross References
    Genesis 28:5
    Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
  20. Cross References
    Genesis 29:20
    So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
    Genesis 29:28
    Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
  21. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 18:15
    The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers - it is to him you shall listen -
  22. Cross References
    Exodus 12:50 - 51
    All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
    Psalms 77:20
    You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
    Isaiah 63:11 - 14
    Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit.
  23. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:17
    And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
  24. Cross References
    Hosea 4:2
    There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
  25. Cross References
    Hosea 12:2
    The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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