What Does Hosea 7:10 Mean in the King James?

And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

Hosea 7:10 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Israel’s own pride already exposes the truth, yet that exposure does not move them back toward God.

THE MEANING

Your pride can stand as plain testimony before you, making your condition visible. Yet seeing that testimony is not the same as returning to the LORD your God or seeking him; the turn is still missing.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Seeing what is wrong does not, by itself, mean you have turned back.

THE ROOT

שָׁבוּ

shavu

GROWS FROM

שׁוּב

shuv

to turn back, return

The Hebrew root points to a change of direction, not recognition alone. Pride is already exposed, but the verse says the return itself does not happen.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: return, turning back

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun from the same root makes clear that return is a movement back, the very movement missing here.

meshubah: backsliding, turning away

מְשׁוּבָה

This branch names a turning in the wrong direction, showing how the same root can describe either return or its opposite.

גְּאוֹן

ge'on

GROWS FROM

גאה

ga'ah

to rise, be high or exalted

The word for pride grows from the idea of being high or exalted. Here that self-elevation becomes its own testimony, plainly exposing the condition without producing a turn back.

ALSO GROWS

ga'ah: to rise, be high

גָּאָה

This verb carries the root’s image of height into the pride named in the verse.

ga'avah: pride, exaltation

גַּאֲוָה

This related noun shows the same root describing the state of holding oneself high.

דָּרְשׁוּ

darshu

GROWS FROM

דרש

darash

to seek, inquire, resort to

The verse pairs return with seeking: both movements toward God are absent. Seeking from this root involves inquiry or resort, so the failure is not simply a lack of awareness; they do not turn to God as the one they seek.

ALSO GROWS

derishah: inquiry, request

דְּרִישָׁה

This noun from the same root shows seeking as an active inquiry, not merely noticing that God is there.

midrash: inquiry, exposition or study

מִדְרָשׁ

This related word preserves the root’s sense of searching into something, illuminating the active seeking absent in the verse.

THE PATTERN

Exposure alone does not restore a relationship; restoration takes the turn back toward the one being sought.

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Hosea 14:1 · KJVThe verse joins recognition of falling with a direct call to return, naming the movement missing in Hosea 7:10.

Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 3:22 · KJVTurning back and healing appear together, showing return as the movement toward repair.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:20 · KJVAwareness becomes a return as the son rises and comes home, making the movement toward relationship visible.

THE THREAD

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Hosea 14:1 · KJV

The same Hebrew root, ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv), appears in Hosea 7:10, where Israel does not return, and in Hosea 14:1, where Israel is told to return. The second verse gives a name to the missing movement in the first.

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