The Hebrew text of this verse is clear. However, it raises the following questions:

(1) Does this verse refer to the present or the future?
(2) Are the Israelites’ words a boast or a confession of sin?
(3) Do the LORD and a king both refer to Yahweh only, or to Yahweh and to the king.

For now they will say: The Hebrew word translated For (ki) is a marker of emphasis here, so it is better rendered “Truly” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “Surely,” or “Indeed.” The Hebrew adverb translated now is often used in Hosea before the announcement of a coming judgment (5.7; 8.10,13; 10.2), that is, some punishment is about to happen. For now thus provides continuity with the previous verse, threatening judgment.

Hosea may be repeating something spoken by the people in the past. But almost as in a taunt, he uses it to predict what they will be forced to admit in the future after the nation has been destroyed. Good News Translation‘s “These people will soon be saying” expresses this threat of judgment. If this verse refers to the future, it gives a confession of the people of Israel in the future after the disaster mentioned in 10.2 has struck. If it refers to the present, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh’s “Truly, now they say” may be proper. However, the quote that follows, referring to the lack of a king, is difficult to fit into the time of Hosea’s prophecy, when Israel still had a king. Andersen and Freedman attempt to explain the quoted words as referring to Yahweh himself as king. The parallel form of the quotation does make this interpretation possible, particularly if we remember how ancient people viewed gods and kings. In the Ancient Near East the king of the city and the god of the city were sometimes pictured as twin images, with the god’s image positioned above that of the king. So this quotation may be understood as remembering how the Israelites earlier rejected Yahweh and also rejected seeking Yahweh’s choice of king to represent him. Here Hosea may be turning what they said earlier into a taunt, expressing how Israel will have to say the same words, but as an admission of their guilt and God’s judgment. Translators will no doubt find it impossible to capture all of this in one translation, so it is essential to express the intended meaning of the words in their future setting, namely, how they will confess their sin and admit that God’s judgment is upon them.

We have no king expresses the situation when King Hoshea of Israel was later captured and imprisoned by Emperor Shalmaneser V of Assyria (2 Kgs 17.4). Soon after this Shalmaneser’s brother Sargon II, who succeeded him, defeated Israel and exiled its people in 722 B.C.

For we fear not the LORD: The Israelites after their defeat will acknowledge the basic reason why their king was captured and their nation collapsed. These words may have been identical with their earlier rejection of Yahweh, but now these words are their confession of guilt. The perfect form of the Hebrew verb for fear is expressed as present in Revised Standard Version but as past in Good News Translation: “because we did not fear the LORD.” Here this verb probably refers to past and present action, so another possible model is “because we have not been fearing the LORD.” Fear in this context refers to reverence, faithfulness, and obedience, rather than dread. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “because we have never taken the LORD seriously,” and Bijbel in Gewone Taal translates “because we had no respect for the Lord.”

And a king, what could he do for us?: This rhetorical question expects the answer “Nothing” or “Very little.” Good News Translation‘s “anyway” uses a common feature of English style to emphasize the expected negative answer. Einheitsübersetzung says “But even if we had a king, what could he do for us?” In some languages it will be clearer to make this question a statement, such as “A king could not do anything for us.” This assertion may have been their former rejection of a king chosen by Yahweh, but now the people acknowledge by the identical words that their earthly kings have not done much good morally or politically, or else, that their condition is now so hopeless that nothing can be done, even if a king would have been available.

A translation model for this verse is:

• Indeed, they will soon say,
“We have no king,
since we have never revered the LORD.
What could a king do for us anyway?”

Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .