Hosea 13:11

So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through Hosea to Israel, confronting their historical demand for a human monarchy after they abandoned His direct governance.

The words — אַפִּי ('appî) and עֶבְרָתִי ('evrātî) translate literally as "in my anger" and "in my wrath," marking the king's appointment and removal as deliberate judicial acts.

The thread — This pattern of God granting and revoking royal authority appears in 1 Samuel 10:19 and 16:1, and parallels the political chaos warned against in Proverbs 28:2.

Why it lands — The text states that God sovereignly gave and took away Israel's king as a direct response to their rebellion, requiring the reader to stop treating human political power as a substitute for divine authority.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אֶֽתֶּן־'e.ten-I gaveלְךָ֥le./Khato/ youמֶ֙לֶךְ֙Me.lekha king בְּאַפִּ֔יbe./'a.P/iin/ anger/ my וְאֶקַּ֖חve./'e.Kachso/ I may take [him] away בְּעֶבְרָתִֽי׃ סbe./'ev.ra.T/iin/ wrath/ my

King James Version

I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

Cross-references

1 Samuel 10:19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.”
1 Samuel 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”
Proverbs 28:2 A land in rebellion has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.
1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
1 Samuel 12:13 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the LORD has placed a king over you.
1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 31:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
1 Kings 12:15 So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
1 Kings 12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David.
1 Kings 14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over My people Israel.