Hosea 5:12

12 So I am like rot to Ephraim and like decay to the house of Judah.

Hosea 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 5:12

Therefore [will] I [be] unto Ephraim as a moth
Which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, secretly, without any noise, and gradually and slowly consumes them; but at last utterly, that they are of no use and profit: this may signify the various things which befell the ten tribes in the reigns of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah, which secretly and gradually weakened them; and the utter consumption of them in the times of Hoshea by Shalmaneser: and to the house of Judah as rottenness;
as rottenness in the bones, ( Proverbs 12:4 ) ; which can never be got out or cured; or as a worm that eats into wood, as Jarchi interprets it; and gets into the very heart of a tree, and eats it out: thus the Lord threatens the house of Judah, or the two tribes, with a gradual, yet thorough, ruin and destruction.

Hosea 5:12 In-Context

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.

14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. Yes, I will tear [them] to pieces and depart. I will carry [them] off, and no one can rescue [them].