Hosea 5:11

11 "Brutal Ephraim is himself brutalized - a taste of his own medicine! He was so determined to do it his own worthless way.

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 be left wasted, a lifeless moonscape. I'm telling it straight, the unvarnished truth, to the tribes of Israel.
10 "Israel's rulers are crooks and thieves, cheating the people of their land, And I'm angry, good and angry. Every inch of their bodies is going to feel my anger.
11 "Brutal Ephraim is himself brutalized - a taste of his own medicine! He was so determined to do it his own worthless way.
12 Therefore I'm pus to Ephraim, dry rot in the house of Judah.
13 "When Ephraim saw he was sick and Judah saw his pus-filled sores, Ephraim went running to Assyria, went for help to the big king. But he can't heal you. He can't cure your oozing sores.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.