‘I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
According to their pasture,
So were they filled,
They were filled, and their heart was exalted,
Therefore have they forgotten me.'
Furthermore when they had gone into the wilderness, YHWH had known them there. He had watched over them, protected them, provided for them, loved them. he had led them by their leading reins (Hosea 11:1; Hosea 11:3-4). Even in that land of great drought He had ensured that they were filled, providing them with ‘pasture' through the manna and the quails. (Alternately the reference is to the produce coming from their later pasture land). But once they were filled their hearts had become exalted, with the result that they had followed their own way, gained too great an opinion of themselves, and had forgotten YHWH.
This was precisely what YHWH had warned against in Deuteronomy 8:11-12, when He said, ‘Take heed lest you forget YHWH your God, --- lest when you have eaten and are full, --- then your heart be exalted and you forget YHWH your God'. It is difficult to avoid the idea that Hosea had been reading Deuteronomy, and saw it as fulfilled here.