Hosea 5:11

Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment The same two participles are again combined in Deuteronomy 28:33, and, as here, in connexion with invasion, -thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway" (so Auth. Vers.). The judgment meant is God's. The idea was so familiar that a more distinct form of expression was unnecessary. The Hebrews and the other Semitic peoples regarded war as a kind of pleading before a judge; comp. for the latter, the Syriac khayeb-damnavit, vicit", and for the former Isaiah 54:17, where -weapon" is parallel to -tongue that riseth against thee"). Compare Schiller's Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht. Somewhat less probable is the rendering -crushed as to (his) right", i.e. his right of national independence.

he willingly walked after the commandment -The commandment" (or, -ordinance") is generally explained of the arbitrary calf-worship (rather bull-worship) set up by Jeroboam I., but as the word only occurs once again in the stammering speech of the drunkards (Isaiah 28:10), it seems more than probable that we should adopt the reading of Septuagint and Peshito, and render the whole clause, he would go after vanity (i.e. after idols, as Jeremiah 18:15; Psalms 31:6). With this reading, too, we can account for the fact that the noun has no article. Archbishop Seeker well points out that the two initial letters of the next word in the Hebrew are such as help to account for the scribe's supposed error.