Hosea 12:8

"And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich, I have found me wealth: in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that were sin."

This is an astounding defense by Ephraim. Sure, he is as crooked as any of the old Canaanites ever were, but he got rich; that makes it right! His wickedness is not "sin," because it works! Here is the old doctrine that the end justifies the means. There was in the crooked weights and false balances of Ephraim a brazen and arrogant denial of covenant obligations as spelled out in Leviticus 19:36; Deuteronomy 25:13,15, and Proverbs 16:11. As a result of his violation of God's law, Ephraim had become guilty; and all his wealth could not cleanse him of his guilt. Thus, we understand, "the second half of the verse as a rejoinder to the first part."[18]