Hosea 5:4

"Their doings will not suffer them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah."

Polkinghorne is correct in his discernment that this passage relates to "the mortal sin of Mark 3:29,1 John 5:16, etc. Hence they find that God has withdrawn himself so as not to receive their sacrifices (Hosea 5:15)."[10] The word Paul used to describe such a condition is "hardening"; and that is exactly what had happened to the northern Israel and would in time happen to the southern Israel also. Speaking of Israel as it existed at this juncture, Smith wrote that, "According to Hosea, return for Israel is now no longer a human possibility."[11] He also elaborated the basic reasons why this was true: (1) sin robs a man of his faculty for God and of the strength of will to obey God; (2) the whole fabric of the nation's social, economic, political, and religious life was interwoven with the lustful indulgences of paganism; and (3) there was no longer any true knowledge of God among the people. Without that knowledge, it was impossible to achieve either any communion with God or any kind of human conduct consistent with the terms of their ancient covenant with Jehovah.