Hosea 7:2 (KJV)

What does Hosea 7:2 mean?

Hosea 7:2 says that the people of Israel go on with their wrongdoing without taking account of God’s awareness of it. God, speaking through Hosea, says that their actions remain before him, even though the people have failed to consider his response.

The picture of their doings surrounding them makes their actions seem close at hand, not distant or forgotten. Following the exposure of wrongdoing in verse 1, God describes those actions as being “before my face”: they are plainly visible to him.

The Hebrew behind Hosea 7:2

• “consider” — אָמַר (ʾamar): This word often means “to say.” Here, the phrase carries the sense of saying something to oneself: the people do not tell themselves that God remembers their wrongdoing.
• “hearts” — לֵבָב (levav): This word can refer to the inner life, including thought and understanding. In this verse, “in their hearts” points to what the people fail to take seriously within themselves.
• “face” — פָּנִים (panim): This word can mean “face” or “presence.” “Before my face” pictures their deeds as present and exposed before God.

Why Hosea 7:2 matters

• The verse connects what people think with what they do. Their failure to consider that God remembers stands alongside the deeds they have committed.
• The wrongdoing is described as their own. The phrase “their own doings” places responsibility for those actions on the people being addressed.
• God’s “remembering” means that their wickedness remains under his attention. The image of deeds surrounding them gives that memory a vivid, present force.