Hosea 7:2

2 And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face.

Hosea 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 7:2

And they consider not in their hearts [that] I remember all
their wickedness
That is, the people of the ten tribes, and the inhabitants of Samaria, whose iniquity and wickedness are said to be discovered, and to be very notorious: and yet "they said not to their hearts" ^F13, as in the original text; they did not think within themselves; they did not commune with their own hearts; they did not put themselves in mind, or put this to their consciences, that the Lord saw all their wicked actions, their idolatry, falsehood, thefts, and robberies, and whatsoever they were guilty of; that the Lord took notice of them, and put them down in the book of his remembrance, in order to call them to an account, and punish them for them: now their own doings have beset them about;
or, "that now their own doings" ^F14; they do not consider in their hearts that their sins are all around them, on every side, committed by them openly, and in abundance, and are notorious to all their neighbours, and much more to the omniscient God: and that they are before my face;
so the Targum,

``which are revealed before me;''

were manifest in his sight, before whom all things are; but this they did not consider, and therefore went on in that bold and daring manner they did. Some understand these clauses of the punishment of their sins, which should surround them on every side, that they should not be able to escape, like persons closely besieged in a city, that they cannot get out; alluding to the future siege of Samaria, when it would be a plain case, though they did not now think of it, that all their sins were before the Lord, and were observed by him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mbbll wrmay lbw) "et non dicebant ad cor suum", Cocceius; "et non dicunt cordi suo", Schmidt.
F14 (Mhyllem Mwbbo hte) "quod circumdent ipsos opera eorum", Schmidt.

Hosea 7:2 In-Context

1 When my desire was for the fate of my people to be changed and to make Israel well, then the sin of Ephraim was made clear, and the evil-doing of Samaria; for their ways are false, and the thief comes into the house, while the band of outlaws takes property by force in the streets.

2 And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face.

3 In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in their deceit.

4 They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the paste is mixed till it is leavened.

5 On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride.