They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; But they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.
The condition in view here, however, is that of God's hardening of persistent and determined sinners; and for all such persons, it is already too late!  Through fear and apprehension they may indeed seek to make the same old sacrifices and utter the same payers; but the time for that ultimately expires.  It was, when Hosea wrote, already such a time for Israel.  Ward was correct in his bold affirmation that this passage is "against the notion that all religious paths lead to God, and the idea that wholeheartedness is the chief criterion of valid worship."[16]  A religion that God approves must be consciously synchronized with God's revealed will.  He continued, "These people were sincere enough, and wholehearted in their religious quest.  Yet God had abandoned them."[17]  See under  Hosea 5:11, below, for further discussion of the reason for this.