Hosea 7:14

14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts. Instead, they just lie on their beds and sob. They cut themselves when they pray to Baal for grain and fresh wine. So they turn away from me.

Hosea 7:14 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 7:14

And they have not cried unto me with their heart
In their distress, indeed, they cried unto the Lord, and said they repented of their sins, and promised reformation, and made a show of worshipping God; as invocation is sometimes put for the whole worship of God; but then this was not heartily, but hypocritically; their hearts and their mouths did not go together, and therefore was not reckoned prayer; nothing but howling, as follows: when they howled upon their beds;
lying sick or wounded there; or, as some, in their idol temples, those beds of adultery, where they pretended to worship God by them, and to pray to him through them; but such idolatrous prayers were no better than the howlings of clogs to him; even though they expressed outwardly their cries with great vehemency, as the word used denotes, having one letter more in it than common: they assemble themselves for corn and wine:
either at their banquets, to feast upon them, as Aben Ezra; or to the markets, to buy them, as Kimchi suggests; or rather to their idol temples, to deprecate a famine, and to pray for rain and fruitful seasons; or if they gather together to pray to the Lord, it is only for carnal and worldly things; they only seek themselves, and their own interest, and not the glory of God, and ask for these things, to consume them on their lust. The Septuagint version is, "for corn and wine they were cut", or cut themselves, as Baal's priests did, when they cried to him, ( 1 Kings 18:28 ) ; and Theodoret here observes, that they performed the Heathen rites, and in idol temples made incisions on their bodies: [and] they rebel against me:
not only flee from him transgress his laws but cast off all allegiance to him and take up arms, and commit hostilities against him. The Targum joins this with the preceding clause,

``because of the multitude of corn and wine which they have gathered they have rebelled against my word;''

and to the same sense Jarchi; thus, Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.

Hosea 7:14 In-Context

12 When they send for help, I will throw my net over them. I will capture them like birds of the air. I will punish them, just as I warned them I would.

13 How terrible it will be for them! They have wandered away from me. So they will be destroyed. They have refused to obey me. I long to save them. But they tell lies about me.

14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts. Instead, they just lie on their beds and sob. They cut themselves when they pray to Baal for grain and fresh wine. So they turn away from me.

15 I brought them up and made them strong. But they make evil plans against me.

16 I am the Most High God. But they do not turn to me. They are like a bow that does not shoot straight. Their leaders will be killed with swords. They will die because they have spoken too proudly. The people of Egypt will make fun of them."