Hosea 12:6-14

6 And thou shalt turn (again) to thy God. Keep thou mercy and doom, and hope thou ever[more] in thy God. (And thou shalt return to thy God. Practise thou love and justice/Practise thou love and judgement, and hope thou forevermore in thy God.)

7 Canaan loved false challenge, a guileful balance in his hand. (The merchant loved false practises, yea, a deceitful balance was in his hands.)

8 And Ephraim said, Nevertheless I am made rich, I have found an idol to me; all my travails shall not find to me the wickedness, which I sinned. (And Ephraim said, Nevertheless I am made rich, I have made my fortune; and in all my labours no one shall not find any wickedness in me, by which I have sinned.)

9 And I am thy Lord God from the land of Egypt; yet I shall make thee to sit in tabernacles, as in the days of feast. (And I am the Lord thy God since thy days in the land of Egypt; and I shall make thee to sit in tents again, like in the old days.)

10 And I spake by prophets, and I multiplied vision, either prophesy, and I was likened in the hand of (the) prophets. (And I spoke by prophets, and I multiplied visions, or prophesies, and I used likenesses, or parables, in the hands of the prophets.)

11 If Gilead worshippeth an idol, therefore they err in vain offering to oxes in Gilgal; for why and the altars of them shall be as heaps on the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and served, either kept (sheep) for a wife. (Jacob fled into the country of Syria, or Aram, and then Israel served a man in order to get a wife, yea, served him, and kept sheep, for a wife.)

13 But by a prophet the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept (safe). (But by a prophet the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet they were kept alive.)

14 Ephraim stirred me to wrathfulness in his bitternesses, and the blood of him shall come on him; and his Lord shall restore to him the shame of him. (Ephraim stirred me to bitter anger, and his blood shall come upon him; and his Lord shall return his shame unto him.)

Hosea 12:6-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 12

This chapter contains complaints and charges both against Israel and Judah, and threatens them with punishment in case they repent not, which they are exhorted to: and first Ephraim is charged with idolatry, vain confidence in, and alliances with, foreign nations, Ho 12:1; and then the Lord declares he has a controversy with Judah, and will punish the inhabitants of it for their sins, Ho 12:2; which are aggravated by their being the descendants of so great a man as Jacob, who got the advantage of his elder brother, had much power with God, and received favours from him, and they also, Ho 12:3-5; and therefore are exhorted to turn to God, wait on him, and do that which is right and good, Ho 12:6. Ephraim is again in his turn charged with fraudulent dealing in trade, and with oppression, and the love of it; and yet pretended he got riches by his own labour, without wronging any, Ho 12:7,8; nevertheless, the Lord promises them public ordinances of worship, and joy in them, and the ministry of his prophets, Ho 12:9,10; though for the present they were guilty of gross idolatry, Ho 12:11; which is aggravated by the raising of Jacob their progenitor from a low estate, and the wonderful preservation of him, and the bringing of them out of Egypt, Ho 12:12,13; and the chapter is closed with observing Ephraim's bitter provocation of God, for which his reproach should return unto him, and his blood be left upon him, Ho 12:14.