Hosea 10:3 (YLT)

Passage

For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king--what doth he for us?

Nearby Context

Hosea 10:1 `An empty vine <FI>is<Fi> Israel, Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made goodly standing-pillars.

Hosea 10:2 Their heart hath been divided, now they are guilty, He doth break down their altars, He doth destroy their standing-pillars.

Hosea 10:3 For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king--what doth he for us?

Hosea 10:4 They have spoken words, To swear falsehood in making a covenant, And flourished as a poisonous herb hath judgment, on the furrows of a field.

Hosea 10:5 For the calves of Beth-Aven fear do inhabitants of Samaria, Surely mourned on account of it hath its people, And its priests on account of it leap about, Because of its honour, for it hath removed from it,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "king", "feared", "jehovah", "king--what", and "doth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "feared", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Their heart hath been divided now they..." into verse 4's "They have spoken words To swear falsehood...", so "king" and "feared" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "king" and "feared" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.