Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 5:12

"Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness." — Hosea 5:12 (ASV)

Rottenness. —The Authorized Version is right in this rendering (the disease caries) rather than worm (margin). Both images express concealed causes of irreparable destruction which come suddenly to view when it is too late.