--- title: "Hosea 12 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible" description: "Read Hosea 12 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12" --- [ Read](/kjv/hosea/12)[ Commentary](/study/hosea/12)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/hosea/12) Audio 1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. 2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.* 3 ¶ He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:* 4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him *in* Beth-el, and there he spake with us; 5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD *is* his memorial. 6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. 7 ¶ *He is* a merchant, the balances of deceit *are* in his hand: he loveth to oppress.** 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 that *were* sin.** 9 And I *that am* the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.* 11 *Is there* iniquity *in* Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars *are* as heaps in the furrows of the fields. 12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept *sheep*. 13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. 14 Ephraim provoked *him* to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.** [Hosea 11](/study/hosea/11) [Hosea 13](/study/hosea/13) ## Commentary To verse 1 ***[Hosea 12:1](/kjv/hosea/12/1)*****.*****Lies and desolations*****—** *Perfidiousness and violence.*Houbigant reads the next clause, *They make a covenant with the Assyrians, whilst in the mean time oil is carried into Egypt.*That is, "While they were in covenant with the Assyrians, they were secretly and perfidiously seeking an alliance with the Egyptians." Egypt was not a country remarkable for *oil of olives,*which yet is one great necessary of life in the eastern countries, being very much used there for food. At the same time oil was wanted for lights there, which must not only have been *necessarily*very numerous in so populous a country; but was also used by the ancient Egyptians in great quantities for *illuminations,*which are still very frequent in those countries; and especially in those months when the Nile overflows, of which Maillet in his Letters gives a most amusing description, and which we may suppose obtained sometimes, more or less, even in the prophetic times. To which also we may add, the custom which obtains universally there, of keeping lamps burning during the night, in all the apartments of a house that are kept in use; which occasions Maillet to say, that perhaps there is no country in the world where so much oil is consumed as in Egypt. This great consumption of oil occasioned the Egyptians anciently to extract it from other vegetables, as well as olives; and still occasions them to do so. One plant in particular, called *cirika,*which greatly resembles wild *succory,*furnishes them with a good deal of oil; but as its smell is very disagreeable, and its light not so clear as that of olive oil, it is not burnt by people of condition, or those who would be thought such. Syria, on the contrary, was a land of oil; and it was produced in great quantities in that part which the Jews inhabited. It is no wonder then, that when the Jews wanted to pay their court to the Egyptians, they sent them the present of *oil,*with which the prophet here upbraids them. It was what their country produced in great abundance, and it was highly acceptable in Egypt. See the *Observations,*p. 387. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12","name":"Hosea 12 - Study King James Bible with cokes commentary on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Hosea 12 with cokes commentary on the holy bible commentary. 1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible","name":"cokes commentary on the holy bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea","name":"Hosea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/cokes-commentary-on-the-holy-bible/hosea/12","name":"12"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```