Hosea 12:1
12:1 Ephraim feedeth {a} on wind, and followeth after the east
     wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do
     make a covenant with the Assyrians, and {b} oil is carried
     into Egypt.

     (a) That is, flatters himself with vain confidence.
     (b) Meaning presents to get friendship.

Hosea 12:2
12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with {c} Judah, and will
     punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings
     will he recompense him.

     (c) Which in those points was similar to Ephraim, but not
         in idolatry.

Hosea 12:3
12:3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his
     strength he had {d} power with God:

     (d) Seeing that God in this way preferred Jacob their
         father, Judah's ingratitude was the more to be
         abhorred.

Hosea 12:4
12:4 Yea, he had {e} power over the angel, and prevailed: he
     wept, and made supplication unto him: {f} he found him [in]
     Bethel, and there he spake with us;

     (e) Read Genesis 32:24-32.
     (f) God found Jacob as he lay sleeping in Bethel Genesis 28:12,
         and spoke with him there in such a way that the fruit of
         that speech appertained to the whole body of the people,
         of which we are.

Hosea 12:7
12:7 [He is] {g} a merchant, the balances of deceit [are] in his
     hand: he loveth to oppress.

     (g) As for Ephraim, he is more like the wicked Canaanites
         than godly Abraham or Jacob.

Hosea 12:8
12:8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out
     substance: [in] all my labours they shall find none
     iniquity in me {h} that [were] sin.

     (h) Thus way the wicked measure God's favour by outward
         prosperity, and like hypocrites cannot endure that any
         should reprove their doings.

Hosea 12:9
12:9 And I [that am] the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt
     will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in {i} the
     days of the solemn feast.

     (i) Seeing you will not acknowledge my benefits, I will
         bring you again to dwell in tents, as in the feast of
         the Tabernacles, which you now condemn.

Hosea 12:11
12:11 [Is there] {k} iniquity [in] Gilead? surely they are
      vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their
      altars [are] as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

      (k) The people thought that no man dare have spoken
          against Gilead, that holy place, and yet the Prophet
          says that all their religion was but vanity.

Hosea 12:12
12:12 {l} And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel
      served for a wife, and for a wife he kept [sheep].

      (l) If you boast of your riches and nobility, you seem to
          reproach your father, who was a poor fugitive and
          servant.

Hosea 12:13
12:13 And by a {m} prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt,
      and by a prophet was he preserved.

      (m) Meaning Moses, by which appears that whatever they
          have, it comes from God's free goodness.