Albert Barnes Commentary Hosea 2:20

"I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah." — Hosea 2:20 (ASV)

And you will know the Lord - This knowledge of God follows God’s act of betrothal and of love. “We love God, because God first loved us.” And the true knowledge of God includes the love of God. “To love man, we must know him: to know God, we must love Him.”

To “acknowledge” God is not yet to “know” Him. Those who do not love God will not even acknowledge Him as He Is: “Supreme Wisdom and Goodness and Power, the Creator and Preserver; the Author of all that is good, the Governor of the world, Redeemer of humanity, the most bountiful Rewarder of those who serve Him, the most just Retributor of those who persevere in rebellion against Him.” Those who will not love God cannot even know God rightly.

But to “know God” is something beyond this. It is to know by experience that God is good; and this God makes known to the soul that He loves, while it meditates on Him, reads of Him, speaks of Him, adores Him, and obeys Him. “This knowledge comes from the revelation of God the Father, and in it is true bliss.”

Thus, when Peter confessed Him to be the Son of man and Son of God, He said, Blessed are you, for Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Indeed, this knowledge is life eternal, as He said, This is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).