Hosea 9:7

Israel shall know.. it] The people have refused to believe the prophet's threats; they would realise the truth very soon, when the calamities came upon them. The prophet is a fool] The meaning is doubtful. Some interpret thus: 'Into such excesses have they fallen that their prophets have gone mad, so that they utter no clear message, but only the incoherent muttering of frenzy.' In this case the prophet would refer to the false prophets. Or it may mean that their iniquity and enmity had hitherto made them ignorant of the real character of the true prophet, who appeared to them a mad fool. The spiritual man] lit. 'the man of the spirit,' an unusual synonym for prophet.