Does the phrase "Israel will know the LORD" imply that they did not know the LORD before?

This is a marked reversal of Hosea 2:8, where God says that Israel did not know the source of their blessings. Here, bound up in the image of marriage and God’s intention to renew his covenant with Israel, God promises another result of his unconditional commitment and grace: Israel will know God. At the core of knowing God is covenant loyalty and obedience.¹

Though Israel forgot God (Hosea 2:13), in the future she will show him faithful love. This is what God promises to Israel, after they renewed the covenant in Deuteronomy 29:1–29. He tells them that disobedience will result in the covenant curses (Deuteronomy 30:1), yet in the end they will return to him in obedience (Deuteronomy 30:2). Then, he promises, The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:6).

As God acts unilaterally in grace toward his spiritually adulterous people, he simultaneously transforms them, so that they will recognise and relate to the Lord in a new and significant way.² The verb translated know can refer to cohabitation and the sex that consummates marriage.³ This makes it a striking choice, especially because the people of Israel were engaged in a Canaanite fertility cult.⁴ However, considering God is never said to engage in any kind of sexual activity, throughout the entire Bible; the verb rather highlights relational intimacy and permanent faithfulness.⁵