Hosea 8:10

This verse is obscure, and open to a variety of interpretations; the following however seems by far the most probable.

Yea, though they have hired among the nations Rather, Yea, though they hire, &c. i.e. though they attain a certain amount of success in their negotiations, and win the protection of some stronger nation, yet the time has come for me to check their misplaced activity.

now will I gather them Surely not, -now will I gather the Assyrian army to fight against them", which does not suit the context (mark -yea, though"), but, -now will I restrain their roving propensities." Where or how, we are not yet told; it is captivity which is dimly hinted at. This interpretation is strongly confirmed by the next clause.

and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes -The king of princes" is a phrase not found elsewhere, but might conceivably = -the king of kings", which is a title claimed by Tiglath-Pileser I. (Records of the Past, Hosea 5:8, comp. Ezekiel 26:7). The -burden" might be the heavy tribute paid by Menahem (2 Kings 15:20). But why -sorrow a little"?No better sense is made by rendering -and they shall begin to be diminished [in numbers, or in prosperity] by reason of the burden of the king of princes"; why -begin"? A third rendering, -and they shall soon be in anguish through the burden" &c. involves a violation of Hebrew usage (-soon" should be -a little"). The only remedy is to follow the Septuagint, which reads two of the Hebrew words differently, and render that they may cease for a little from anointing a king and princes (all the versions and some Hebr. MSS. sanction -and"). Comp. Hosea 13:10 -Give me a king and princes", from which it seems as if the personnelof the class of -princes" would vary according as the king were of one dynasty or another. In Judah, at any rate, as well as in Egypt, we know that the royal princes enjoyed many of the more important offices under the crown (comp. Isaiah 7:13; Jer 17:20; 1 Kings 22:26; 2 Kings 25:25).