Hosea 5:11

11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow what is worthless.[a]

Hosea 5:11 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 5:11

Ephraim [is] oppressed, [and] broken in judgment
Here the prophet again returns to the ten tribes, who were oppressed and broken, either by their own judgments, as the Targum; by the tyranny of their kings, and the injustice of their judges, who looked only for the mammon of unrighteousness; or by the judgment of their enemies, the Assyrians, the taxes they laid upon them, the devastations they made among them, and by whom, at last, they were carried captive; or by the judgments of God upon them; for all the enemy did was by his permission, and according to his will: because he willingly walked after the commandment;
not after the commandment of God, but after the commandment of men, as Aben Ezra; or after the commandment of the prophets of Baal, as Jarchi; or after the commandment of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, as Kimchi, by worshipping the calves at Dan and Bethel he set up there.

Hosea 5:11 In-Context

9 Ephraim will become a desolation on the day of punishment; I announce what is certain among the tribes of Israel.
10 The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary markers; I will pour out My fury on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow what is worthless.
12 So I am like rot to Ephraim and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent [a delegation] to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or follow a command; Hb obscure
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.