13:11 gave . . . took. Though describing past action, the Hebrew verb tense suggests an ongoing process of giving and taking. The king is not specified. Perhaps this is a reference to the royal assassinations of Hosea’s time (3:4; 7:7; 8:4; 10:3; cf. 2 Kin. 15:8–31; 17:1–6), to an early king such as Saul (who was alive when kingship was first requested), or even to all of the kings of the north (all twenty of whom “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”).