Verse 3
"Surely now shall they say, We have no king; for we fear not Jehovah; and the king, what can he do for us?"
"These verses have caused much discussion,"[7] as Mauchline said; and the meaning is somewhat ambiguous. "They describe the state of perplexity and resourcelessness which prevailed just before the judgment took place."[8]
"Surely now shall they say ..." would appear to be more accurately rendered as in the New English Bible, "well may they say, etc." A paraphrase of the intended message might be: "Well may the people say, `We have no king'; for we have forsaken God, and our king is powerless!" The impending judgment which formed the backdrop for such exclamations is stated, below, in Hosea 10:5-6.
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