Hosea 1:7

"But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, (that's the Southern two tribes, remember, where Hosea is ministering.) and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." But rather by His own intrinsic Sovereign power.

Now, let's be reminded that the Southern Kingdom lasted about a hundred years longer than the Northern Kingdom. Israel, the Ten Tribes, will be overrun by the Syrians about a hundred years before Judah goes under the hand of the Babylonians. Now I don't think, if I'm remembering correctly, I did not really finish our verses back there in II Kings. I'm going to bring you back here again, if I may, so that you see why God's patience ran out with the Ten Tribes that we are now calling Israel.