---
title: "Commentary on Hosea"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 84 of 86
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/84/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentary on Hosea, section 84. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/84/"
---

# Commentary on Hosea

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on Hosea, the prophet of a faithful God and an unfaithful people.

## 84. Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/84/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-hosea/84/#p-N

[¶0] 1 Ephraim feeds on the wind, and pursues the east wind; Daily he multiplies falsehood and devastation: A covenant they make with the Assyrian, And oil is carried into Egypt.

[¶1] 2 Jehovah has also a contention with Judah; And he will visit Jacob; — according to his ways, According to his works, he will requite him.

[¶2] 3 In the womb he laid hold on his brother’s foot, And by his strength he had power with God;

[¶3] 4 And he had power with the Angel and prevailed; He wept and entreated him: In Bethel he found him; — and there he spoke with us,

[¶4] 5 Even Jehovah, God of hosts, — Jehovah is his memorial,

[¶5] 6 And thou, to thy God return; Goodness and judgment observe, And hope in thy God always.

[¶6] 7 Canaan! — in his hand is the balance of fraud; He loves to plunder:

[¶7] 8 Yet Ephraim said, “I am however become rich; I have found wealth for myself; In all my labors they shall not find in me An iniquity, which is a sin.”

[¶8] 9 But I, Jehovah, thy God from the land of Egypt. Will yet make thee to dwell in tents, As in the days of the assembly.

[¶9] 10 I have also spoken by the Prophets, And visions have I multiplied, And through the Prophets used similitudes: —

[¶10] 11 Is there (still) iniquity in Gilead? — Surely vain have they been: In Gilgal they have sacrificed oxen, And their altars have been as heaps On the furrows of the field.

[¶11] 12 Even Jacob fled to the land of Syria, And Israel served for a wife, And for a wife he kept sheep:

[¶12] 13 And by a Prophet did Jehovah bring Israel out of Egypt, And by a Prophet he was preserved: —

[¶13] 14 (Yet) Ephraim has provoked him by his high places; (446) But his blood shall on him remain, And his reproach will his Lord return to him.