They shall not dwell in the LORD's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt - (note, Hosea 8:13). As in Hosea 11:5, it is said, "He shall not return into ... Egypt," Fairbairn thinks it is not the exact country that is meant, but the bondage-state with which, from past experience, Egypt was identified in their minds. Assyria was to be a second Egypt to them (Deuteronomy 28:68), though threatening a return to Egypt (Hos. 9:36), declares that the Lord shall bring them and their king to a nation which neither they nor their fathers had known, showing that it is not the literal Egypt, but a second Egypt-like bondage that is threatened.
And they shall eat unclean things in Assyria - reduced by necessity to eat meats pronounced unclean by the Mosaic law (Ezekiel 4:13). See 2 Kings 17:6, "In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria took Samaria."