Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
Ephraim ... Judah. - Israel is referred to in Hosea 5:9, Judah in Hosea 5:10.
Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke - the day when I shall chastise him.
Among the tribes of Israel have I made known - proving that the scene of Hosea's labours were among the ten tribes.
Among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be - literally, 'that which is established,' or 'well grounded' х ne'ªmaanaah (H539)] in the purpose of God, namely, the coming judgment here foretold. It is no longer a conditional decree, leaving a hope of pardon on repentance: it is absolute, because Ephraim is hopelessly impenitent. The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound - one's "neighbour's land-mark" (Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17, "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's land-mark;" Job 24:2; Proverbs 5:22-23; Proverbs 23:10). Proverbial for the rash setting aside of the ancestral laws of religion, by which men are kept to their duty, and the consequent curse incurred. Ahaz and his courtiers ("the princes of Judah") setting aside the ancient ordinances of God, removed the borders of the bases and the layer and the sea, and introduced an idolatrous altar, made by Urijah the priest after a pattern from Damascus (2 Kings 16:10-18); also he burnt his children in the valley of Hinnom, after the abominations of the pagan (2 Chronicles 28:3).