Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 5:11

"Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after [man`s] command." — Hosea 5:11 (ASV)

Broken in judgment. The Authorized Version is probably correct in this rendering, as the phrase refers to rights pertaining to individuals.

Interpreters differ regarding the rare word tsav, translated “commandment.” It only occurs in one other place (Isaiah 28:10; Isaiah 28:13). Ewald regards it as meaning “wooden post,” i.e., their idol, but this interpretation has no basis in Old Testament usage, though it is etymologically ingenious. The majority of Jewish and modern commentators understand it to mean the evil ordinance of Jeroboam, who demanded the reverence of his subjects for the calf-symbol of Jehovah. The Septuagint had a different text (shav instead of tsav), which they render as “vanities,” and this reading is followed by the Targum and Syriac versions. This point is worthy of attention.

Willingly — i.e., “waywardly.”