I am trying, now, to answer you, making a synthesis (since you made several question about this Bible passage), of the best comments of classical scholars, especially. At the end of my answer I add some my details and a translation of the verse.
The passage at issue is the following (Hos 7:11):
ויהי אפרים כיונה פותה אין לב מצרים קראו אשׁור הלכו
“And Ephraim became like a foolish senseless [literally, ‘without heart’(אין לב)] dove. To Egypt they called, to Assyria went.”
(Robert Alter, 2019)”
Let us start with the classic commentaries (bold is mine):
“The point of comparison between Israel and the simple dove, is not that the dove misses its proper dwelling and resting-place, and therefore goes fluttering about (Ewald); nor that, in trying to escape from the hawk, it flies into the net of the bird-catcher (Hitzig); but that when flying about in search of food, it does not observe the net that is spread for it (Rosenmüller).” [Keil&Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament]
“Israel is like a simple dove, which, not observing the snare set for her, is caught in it (Hos 7:12). They called out to Egypt; they went to Assyria. Assyria threatened Israel. The latter then turned immediately to Egypt, to obtain help against Assyria, and partly sought to gain the favor of Assyria (Hos 8:9). And after all they fell into the net of Assyria.” [Lange, Commentary on the Old Testament]
“Ephraim is - (become) like a silly dove, ‘There is nothing more simple than a dove’, says the Eastern proverb. Simplicity is good or bad, not in itself, but according to some other qualities of the soul, good or evil, with which it is united, to which it opens the mind, and which lead it to good or mislead it to evil. The word describes one, easily persuaded, open, and so, one who takes God’s word simply, obeys His will, without refinement or subtlety or explaining it away; in which way it is said, ‘The Lord preserveth the simple’; or, on the other hand, one who lets himself easily be led to evil, as the pagan said of youth, that they were ‘like wax to be bent to evil’ Psa 116:6. In this way, it is said, ‘How long, ye simple one, will ye love simplicity?’ Pro 1:22. Our Lord uses this likeness of the dove, for good, ‘be wise as serpents, simple, or harmless as doves’ Mat 10:16. Hosea speaks of simplicity without wisdom, for he adds, ‘a silly dove without understanding’, (literally, ‘without a heart’,) whereby they should love God’s will, and so should understand it. Ephraim ‘became’, he says, like a silly dove. Neglecting God’s calls, unmoved by calamity or sufferings, and not ‘seeking’ to God ‘for all this’ which He has done to recall them, they grew in folly. Man is ever ‘growing in wisdom’ or in folly, in grace or in gracelessness.” [Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible]
“[…] Ephraim is become like a silly dove without understanding. This verse does not begin a fresh section, but is closely connected with the preceding. As a dove, fleeing from a hawk, is snared in the fowler’s net, so Ephraim, when afraid of Assyria, calls in the assistance of Egypt, and when afraid of Egypt, applies to Assyria (see ‘Introduction’). In his folly he does not observe the snare which the false friend, or rather (Hos7:12) Jehovah, prepares for him.” [Cambridge Bible for School and Colleges]
“Strophe I (vss. 8-12) represents Israel as blindly losing herself among the nations, arrogantly rejecting Yahweh, thereby challenging his punishment, and fluttering hither and thither like a silly dove, only to be caught in the net.” [William Rainey Harper, in The American Journal Of Semitic Languages And Literatures (continuing ‘Hebraica’) Volume XXI, October, 1904, number 1, ‘The Structure Of Hosea 7:8-14:10’.]
“Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection.” (Hos 7:11, NET2). Compare the same concept as expressed in Hos 11:11.
Now, some details.
Hosea enhanced the same concept in 7:9, utilizing there a synonimic parallelism. In fact, we read: “Strangers devour his [Ephraim’s] strength, and he knows it not – Gray hairs are sprinkled upon him [Ephraim], and he knows it not.”
This translation [ESV] comments this passage: “The nation is like a man who has suddenly grown older and weaker but does not yet realize it.”
Only a man too much absorbed with some matters outside him cannot realize a number of grey hairs are sprout up on his head. This is why Hosea refers to Ephraim as a dove ‘without a heart’ (אין לב). In fact, the term לב, when it is devoid of a physical sense (namely, the fleshly heart), means ‘interiority’, ‘what is in our inside’ (apostle Paul called this one ‘the man we are inside’ (2 Cor 4:16, ο εσω ημων [ανθρωπος]).
So, the final translation: “Ephraim has becoming as a naïve dove [or, pidgeon] with no (profundity of) interiority [LB], invoking (help) to Egypt, and going to Assyria.”
In other words, through its naïvety, Ephraim bought it, hook, line and tinker.
I hope these information will be useful for you.
