Hosea 8:10

‘Yes, because they hire among the nations,

Now will I gather them,

And they begin to be diminished,

By reason of the burden of the king of princes.'

YHWH therefore intends to ‘gather' them for judgment and slowly squeeze them dry by reason of the financial demands of the king of Assyria, ‘the king of princes'. This began with Menahem's payment of tribute, extracted from the rich in the land (2 Kings 15:19), and continued through the years as greater and greater tribute was demanded as a consequence of their continuing rebellions.