Hosea 5:4

King James Version (KJV)

They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

They will not frame their doings - They never purpose to turn to God, they have fully imbibed the spirit of idolatry.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

They will not frame their doings … - They were possessed by an evil spirit, impelling and driving them to sin; “the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them,” i. e., in their very inward self, their center, so to speak; in their souls, where reside the will, the reason, the judgment; and so long as they did not, by the strength of God, dislodge him, they would and could not frame their acts, so as to repent and turn to God. For a mightier impulse mastered them and drove them into sin, as the evil spirit drove the swine into the deep.

The rendering of the margin, although less agreeable to the Hebrew, also gives a striking sense. “Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God.” Not so much that their habits of sin had got an absolute mastery over them, so as to render repentance impossible; but rather, that it was impossible that they should turn inwardly, while they did not turn outwardly. Their evil doings, so long as they persevered in doing them, took away all heart, whereby to turn to God with a solid conversion.

And yet He was “their God;” this made their sin the more grievous. He, whom they would not turn to, still owned them, was still ready to receive them as “their God.” For the prophet continues, “and they have not known the Lord.” Him, “their God,” they knew not. For the spirit which possessed them hindered them from thought, from memory, from conception of spiritual things. They did not turn to God,

(1) because the evil spirit held them, and so long as they allowed his hold, they were filled with carnal thoughts which kept them back from God.

(2) they did not know God; so that, not knowing how good and how great a good He is in Himself, and how good to us, they had not even the desire to turn to Him, for love of Himself, yea even for love of themselves. They saw not, that they lost a loving God.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The piercing eye of God saw secret liking and disposition to sin, the love the house of Israel had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them. Pride makes men obstinate in other sins. And as Judah was treading in the same steps, they would fall with Israel. By dealing treacherously with the Lord, men only deceive themselves. Those that go to seek the Lord with their flocks and their herds only, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him; nor shall any speed who do not seek the Lord while he may be found. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now, while it is the accepted time, and the day of salvation.

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