The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
"Uzziah, Jotham, etc .... kings of Judah ..." It has seemed strange to some that a prophet of the northern kingdom should have dated his prophecy primarily by the kings of Israel; but all of the prophets realized that Israel's doom was imminent and that the true seat of the theocracy was in Jerusalem, not in Samaria.  The minimum and maximum dates indicated by this whole list of kings  Isaiah 27 years (742-715 B.C.) and 96 years (783-687 B.C.).  Homer Hailey's assumption of a date from 750 B.C. and for some indefinite period afterwards[4] is as practical as any that may be assigned.