Children that are strangers... That is, aliens from God: and therefore they are threatened with speedy destruction.
5:8. Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.
5:9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be.
5:10. The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
As they that take up the bound... That is, they that remove the boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively: going beyond the boundary of the laws of God.
5:11. Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness.
5:12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda.
5:13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you.
5:14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue.
5:15. I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face.