Hosea 5:12

12 I am like a moth to Israel, like a rot to the people 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 leaders of Judah are like those who steal other people's land. I will pour my punishment over them like a flood of water.

11 Israel is crushed by the punishment, because it decided to follow idols.

12 I am like a moth to Israel, like a rot to the people of Judah.

13 "When Israel saw its illness and Judah saw its wounds, and sent to the great king of Assyria. But he cannot heal you or cure your wounds.

14 I will be like a lion to Israel, like a young lion to Judah. I will attack them and tear them to pieces. I will drag them off, and no one will be able to save them.