Hosea 5:4

4 The evil that the people have done keeps them from returning to their God. Idolatry has a powerful hold on them, and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

Hosea 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 5:4

They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God
Either their evil doings; they will not leave, as the Targum and Jarchi {g}; their evil ways and worship, their adultery and idolatry; which was necessary to repentance and true conversion to God, whom they yet professed to be their God, though they had so sadly departed from him: or their good works; they did not choose to do them, which were leading steps to repentance and conversion, or fruits and evidences of it: they had no mind to repent of their sins, and turn from them to the Lord; they had no thought, care, or concern, about these things, but obstinately persisted in their sins and in their impenitence: their wills were wretchedly depraved and corrupted; their hearts hard, perverse, and obstinate; they had no will to that which is good: for the spirit of whoredom [is] in the midst of them;
an unclean spirit, that prompts them to and pushes them on to commit corporeal and spiritual whoredom; the bias and inclination of their minds were this way which put them upon such evil practices; the spirit of error, which caused them to err, as the Targum and Kimchi; the lying spirit in the false prophets which encouraged them therein; and even himself, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience: and they have not known the Lord;
ignorance of God, his nature and perfections, his will, word, and worship, was the cause of their idolatry, and other sins; see ( Hosea 4:1 ) ; and this was wilful and affected ignorance; they knew not, nor would they understand: they rejected the knowledge of God, and the means of it; so the Targum,

``and they sought not instruction (or doctrine) from the Lord.''

FOOTNOTES:

F7 So R. Sol. Urbin. fol. 68. 2.

Hosea 5:4 In-Context

2 a deep pit at Acacia City, and I will punish all of you.
3 I know what Israel is like - she cannot hide from me. She has been unfaithful, and her people are unfit to worship me."
4 The evil that the people have done keeps them from returning to their God. Idolatry has a powerful hold on them, and they do not acknowledge the Lord.
5 The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. Their sins make them stumble and fall, and the people of Judah fall with them.
6 They take their sheep and cattle to offer as sacrifices to the Lord, but it does them no good. They cannot find him, for he has left them.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.