First, we should cover the first part of that phrase, which is “yea, there is no God.” It may also be helpful to point out that this line in the passage in part is mistranslated. The word translated “God” in the Hebrew underlying this phrase actually is צוּר, which really means (and should be translated as) “Rock” rather than “God.” So the KJV translation is incorrect.
Second, the latter part of the sentence is the phrase “I know
not any.” There are two issues with this translation here. You will note
that in the King James Version the word “any” is set in italics. The reason is
that there is nothing in the Hebrew text that actually can be translated for
that word. It is close enough to the underlying meaning, however, that we will
address that word no further. But the most important Hebrew phrase underlying
this translated phrase is בַּל־יָדָֽעְתִּי, which literally means “none I have
known.”
Herein again is a demonstration of the problems of
translating literally (and so, out of context) in some situations. For
instance, the latter Hebrew words also carry the meaning, in passages such as
this one, of “I have recognized none.” It isn’t really speaking to what God did
nor did not know, for his understanding is infinite. If the critic
rather would hold to and insist upon the one meaning, it is a simple matter to
turn to Hosea 8:4 and then point out that the other meaning equally is
possible, and that to hold to that former meaning (to the exclusion of the
latter) there creates a problem for the LORD whose understanding is infinite!
In Hosea 8;4, God isn’t here really saying that he wasn’t aware of kings and
princes having been set up without his knowledge. He merely states here that he
does not acknowledge them, or rather that he does not recognize their
authority. Again, this is yet another issue demonstrating those problems that
also can crop up from time to time with a somewhat strictly literal translation
methodology.
D. Charles Pyle, I Have Said Ye Are Gods:
Concepts Conducive to the Early Christian Doctrine of Deification in Patristic
Literature and the Underlying Strata of the Greek New Testament (Revised and
Supplemented)
(North Charleston, S.C.: CreateSpace, 2018), 114-15; "and I knew it
not" in Hos 8:4 in Hebrew reads וְלֹ֣א יָדָ֑עְתִּי.
