Hosea 10:3-5

The Voice

³Then they’ll say, “We don’t have our own king anymore
because we didn’t fear the Eternal One.
But even if we still had a king, what could he do for us?”

A nation without a functioning king is no nation at all.

⁴They speak a lot of sensible words,
    but their oaths are insincere, and their covenant promises are empty.
This is why the king’s judgment sprouts up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
⁵The people of Samaria are afraid of what will happen to the calf-idol of Beth-aven;
    the people will mourn for it, and its pagan priests will join in lament.
    They’ll wail when its glory departs.