Hosea 12

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¹The people of Israel feed on the wind; they chase after the east wind all day long. They pile up lies and violence; they are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt. ✦ ²Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways, and pay him back for all he has done. ✦ ³Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God. ✦ ⁴Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him— ✦ ⁵the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord is his name! ✦ ⁶So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him. ✦ ⁷But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales— they love to cheat. ✦ ⁸Israel boasts, “I am rich! I’ve made a fortune all by myself! No one has caught me cheating! My record is spotless!” ✦ ⁹“But I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters. ✦ ¹⁰I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables.” ✦ ¹¹But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls; their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field. ✦ ¹²Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he earned a wife by tending sheep. ✦ ¹³Then by a prophet the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt; and by that prophet they were protected. ✦ ¹⁴But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Gen 32 ·5 Mic 6 ·5 2 Kgs 17 ·5 Hos 4 ·4 Jer 2 ·4 Hos 8 ·3 Amos 5 ·3 1 Tim 6 ·3

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 12YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Hosea 12David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Hosea 12Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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