Hosea 10:3

3 For then they shall say, A king is not to us, for we dread(ed) not the Lord. And what shall a king do to us? (And then they shall say, We have no king, for we did not fear the Lord. But what good could a king do for us anyway?)

Hosea 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 10:3

For now they shall say, we have no king
This they would say, either when they had one; but by their conduct and behaviour said they had none; because they had no regard unto him, no affection for him, and reverence of him; but everyone did what was right in his own eyes: or during the interregnum, between the murder of Pekah, which was in the twentieth year of Jotham, and the settlement of Hoshea, which was in the twelfth of Ahaz; see ( 2 Kings 15:30 ) ( 17:1 ) ; or when the land of Israel was invaded, and their king was shut up in prison, and Samaria besieged, so that it was as if they had no king; they had none to protect and defend them, to sally out at the head of them against the enemy, and fight their battles for them; or rather when the city was taken, the altars broke down, their images spoiled, and they and their king carried captive: because we feared not the Lord:
did not serve and worship him, but idols; and this sin, casting off the fear of the Lord, was the source and cause of all their troubles and sorrows; of the invasion of their land; of the besieging and taking their city, and having no king to rule over them, and protect them: what then should a king do to us?
if they had one, he could be of no service to them; for since they had offended God, the King of kings, and made him their enemy, what could an earthly king, a weak mortal man, do for them, or against him? it was now all over with them, and they could have no expectation of help and deliverance.

Hosea 10:3 In-Context

1 Israel was a vine full of boughs, fruit was made even to him (Israel was a vine full of branches, bringing forth fruit unto himself); by the multitude of his fruit he multiplied (the) altars, by the plenty of his land he was plenteous. [Israel a vine full of boughs, fruit is made even to him; after the multitude of his fruit he multiplied altars, after the plenty of his land he was plenteous in simulacra, or false gods.]

2 In simulacra the heart of them is parted, now they shall perish. He shall break the simulacra of them, he shall rob the altars of them. (Their hearts be all turned toward their idols, and now they shall perish. Yea, God shall destroy their idols, and shall rob their altars.) [The heart of them is parted, now they shall perish. He shall break together the simulacra of them, he shall spoil the altars of them (He shall altogether break their idols, he shall spoil their altars).]

3 For then they shall say, A king is not to us, for we dread(ed) not the Lord. And what shall a king do to us? (And then they shall say, We have no king, for we did not fear the Lord. But what good could a king do for us anyway?)

4 Speak ye words of unprofitable vision, and ye shall smite bond of peace with leasing; and doom as bitterness shall burgeon on the furrows of the field. (Speak ye words of unprofitable vision, and ye shall strike a covenant with lies; and a bitter justice shall burgeon on the furrows of the field.)

5 The dwellers of Samaria worshipped the kine of Bethaven. For the people thereof mourned on that calf, and the keepers of the house thereof; they made full out joy on it in the glory thereof, for it passed from that people. (The inhabitants of Samaria worshipped the calf of Bethaven. And so the people there, and the keepers of its temple, mourned when that calf was taken away; yea, they had rejoiced over it in its glory, before that it was taken away from that people.)