Hosea

¹ chases ghosts and phantoms. He tells lies nonstop, soul-destroying lies. Both Ephraim and Judah made deals with Assyria and tried to get an inside track with Egypt.

² Jacob's children are hauled into court to be punished.

³ When he grew up, he tried to get the best of God.

⁴ God bested him. Brought to his knees, Jacob wept and prayed. God found him at Bethel. That's where he spoke with him.

⁵ God-Revealed, God-Known.

⁶ Commit yourself in love, in justice! Wait for your God, and don't give up on him—ever!

⁷ They love to rip people off!

⁸ I've made it big! And look how well I've covered my tracks: not a hint of fraud, not a sign of sin!"

⁹ Your God from the days in Egypt! I'm going to put you back to living in tents, as in the old days when you worshiped in the wilderness.

¹⁰ to give clear pictures of the way things are. Using prophets, I tell revealing stories.

¹¹ and Gilgal teeming with empty-headed religion. I expose their worship centers as stinking piles of garbage in their gardens."

¹² He ran off guilty to Aram, Then sold his soul to get ahead, and made it big through treachery and deceit.

¹³ who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.

¹⁴ and inexcusably insulted God. Now he has to pay for his life-destroying ways. His Master will do to him what he has done.