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I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Hosea 14:4 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB “I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.
  • BSB I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
  • NKJV “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.
  • NASB ¶I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, Because My anger has turned away from them.
  • NLT The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God promises to heal Israel's waywardness and love them freely, with his anger turned away. It reveals the abundant grace that meets true repentance.

Overview

God answers the prayer of repentance with a pledge to heal their apostasy at its root. The phrase "I will love them freely" emphasizes that this love is unmerited grace, not earned by their return. The turning away of his anger points to the gospel reality where wrath is removed through atonement, freely justifying those who come to him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Isa 57:18I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
  • Jer 3:22Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
  • Isa 12:1And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
  • Eph 2:4–9But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
  • Zeph 3:17The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
  • Hos 6:1Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
  • Ps 78:38But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
  • 2 Cor 5:19–21To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
  • Exod 15:26And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.
  • Titus 3:4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
  • Jer 33:6Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
  • Jer 17:14Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
  • Jer 5:6Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
  • Jer 14:7O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
  • Jer 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
  • Hos 11:7And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
  • Rom 3:24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
  • Deut 7:7–8The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
  • Matt 9:12–13But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
  • Eph 1:6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
  • 2 Tim 1:9Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
  • Num 25:4And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
  • Num 25:11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Hosea videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Hosea 14:4YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on HoseaMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.

How Hosea 14:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.