John Calvin Commentary Hosea 4:19

"The wind hath wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices." — Hosea 4:19 (ASV)

If this rendering is approved, The wind hath bound her in its wings, the meaning is that a sudden storm would sweep away the people, and so they would be made ashamed of their sacrifices. So the past tense is to be understood as the future.

We may indeed read the words in the past tense, as if the Prophet were speaking of what had already taken place. The wind, then, has already swept away the people; by this he suggests that they seemed to have struck long and deep roots in their superstitions, but that the Lord had already given them up to the wind, so that it might hold them tied in its wings. And wings, as we know, are elsewhere ascribed to the wind (Psalms 104:3). And so the verse will be, throughout, a denunciation of vengeance.

The other simile or metaphor is the most appropriate and harmonizes better with the subject; for if men did not support their minds with vain confidence, they could never despise God’s word with so much audacity. Hence, they are said to tie the wind in their wings. Being unmindful of their own condition, they attempt to fly, as it were, by means of the wind; but when they proudly lift themselves up, they have no support but the wind.