Hosea 13:10
in Hosea 13Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
KJV
I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
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This verse in Hosea 13
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"Your destruction, Israel, only your help is with me. Where is your king? May he save you now in all your cities; and your judges, of whom you said: Give me a king and princes: I will give you a king in my fury, and take away in my indignation." LXX: "Who will help you in your corruption, O Israel? Where is your king? May he save you in all your cities and judge you as you said: 'Give me a king and prince.' I gave you a king and prince in my anger and took away in my fury."
This site's exposition
thou hast destroyed thyself
on Hosea 13:9-11
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help, turns the chapter's accusation into an offer even as it stands. Verses 10 and 11 then reach back to the founding of the monarchy, where is any other that may save thee, and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes, a plain echo of Israel's demand at 1 Samuel 8 and the warning Samuel gave them there. I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath reads to most of the bench as covering both Saul's removal and the northern kingdom's long parade of usurper kings, none of them set up by the Lord (Hos 8:4).
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
Where are thy judges, who by administering public justice should preserve the public peace? For it is righteousness and peace that kiss each other. Where are thy judges that thou hadst such a desire of and such a dependence upon, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
Thy king - I would have been thy king to govern and save thee, but thou refusedst me in both: yet I will be thy king to punish thee. Thy Judges - Where are they now?
I will be thy King, where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities?....
4 Yet I am the L ORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me. Idolatry was the sin that did most easily beset the Jewish nation till after the captivity; the ten tribes from the first were guilty of it, but especially after the days of Ahab; and this is the sin which, in these verses, they are charged with.
The business and care of a good king is to keep his people, not only from ruined by foreign enemies, but from ruining themselves and one another. Thus will God yet be Israel's King, as he was their King of old. Note, Our case would be sad indeed if God were not better to us than we are to ourselves.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Give me a king and princes? - Referring to the time in which they cast off the Divine theocracy and chose Saul in the place of Jehovah.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will be thy king; where--rather, as the Margin and the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, "Where now is thy king?" [MAURER]. English Version is, however, favored both by the Hebrew, by the antithesis between Israel's self-chosen and perishing kings, and God, Israel's abiding King (compare Ho 3:4, 5). where . . .
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will be thy King - (literally, “I would be” thy King) Where is any other that, etc. A better translation would be: “Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities; and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, give me a king and princes.” As Israel was under Samuel, such it remained. “Then” it mistrusted God, and looked to man for help, saying, “Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” 1Sa 8:19. In choosing man they rejected God. The like they did, when they chose Jeroboam. In order to rid themselves of the temporary pressure of Rehoboam’s taxes, they demanded anew “king and princes.” First they rejected God as their king; then they rejected the king whom God appointed, and Him in His appointment. “In all thy cities.” It was then to be one universal need of help. They had chosen a king “to fight their battles,” and had rejected God. Now was the test, whether their choice had been good or evil. One cry for help went up from “all their cities.” God would have heard it; could man? : “This question is like that other, ‘Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drink the wine of their drink offerings?’ Deu 32:37-39. As there, when no answer could be made, He adds, ‘See now that I, I am He, and that there is no god with Me,’ so here He subjoins;”
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֱהִ֤י | ʾehi | where? | H165 → | 3 times |
| מַלְכְּךָ֙ | malkekha | [is] king your | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֵפ֔וֹא | ʾefo' | then | H645 → | |
| וְיוֹשִֽׁיעֲךָ֖ | veyoshiakha | so he may save you | H3467 → | 206 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עָרֶ֑יךָ | ʾareikha | cities your | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וְשֹׁ֣פְטֶ֔יךָ | veshofeteikha | and rulers your | H8199 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָמַ֔רְתָּ | ʾamarta | you said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| תְּנָה־ | tenah- | give ! | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לִּ֖י | li | to me | ||
| מֶ֥לֶךְ | melekh | a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וְשָׂרִֽים׃ | vesarim | and leaders | H8269 → | 421 times |
אֱהִ֤יwhere?
ʾehiH165 →3 times
מַלְכְּךָ֙[is] king your
malkekhaH4428 →2525 times
אֵפ֔וֹאthen
ʾefo'H645 →
וְיוֹשִֽׁיעֲךָ֖so he may save you
veyoshiakhaH3467 →206 times
בְּכָל־in all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
עָרֶ֑יךָcities your
ʾareikhaH5892 →1090 times
וְשֹׁ֣פְטֶ֔יךָand rulers your
veshofeteikhaH8199 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אָמַ֔רְתָּyou said
ʾamartaH559 →5305 times
תְּנָה־give !
tenah-H5414 →2011 times
לִּ֖יto me
li
מֶ֥לֶךְa king
melekhH4428 →2525 times
וְשָׂרִֽים׃and leaders
vesarimH8269 →421 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Zechariah 14:9On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:5–6
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
- Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign…
- Daniel 7:27
Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all…
- Isaiah 2:2–4
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to…
- Zephaniah 3:9
For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
- Ephesians 4:5–6
Through
Hosea 10:3Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”
it leads to
- Hosea 10:15
Thus it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day dawns, the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.
- Hosea 10:7
Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water.
- Hosea 10:15
Through
Hosea 8:4They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 15:10–30
Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.
- 2 Kings 15:10–30
About Hosea
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Hosea 13:9-11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.