Hosea 14:4-8
“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”
King James Version · the opening — all 5 verses are below
God's unconditional love healing Israel's turning away, a portrait of the ultimate restoration in the messianic age.
Read the whole passage — all 5 verses (KJV)
14:4I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
14:5I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
14:6His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
14:7They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
14:8Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.
Fulfillment References
Romans 5:8 Jeremiah 31:34
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.' Hosea ends with sheer grace — God's anger turned away, His people flourishing like the lily and the vine. The free love that heals the backslider is the love of God poured out in the Lord Jesus, who came to call sinners and heal the wayward (Rom. 5:8). The God who loves freely is God in flesh, the Saviour of the backslidden.
JewishThe book's closing promise of healing and unmerited love for repentant Israel — restoration to fruitfulness and the turning away of God's anger.
CatholicGod's free, healing grace toward the penitent, fulfilled in Christ's mercy to sinners; restoration of the wayward.
ProtestantSovereign, free grace healing the backslider — a picture of justification and the love of God in Christ (Rom. 5:8).
AcademicHosea's hopeful epilogue; the agricultural-flourishing imagery and the emphasis on unmerited love close the book.
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Audio narration (listen to this prophecy read aloud), cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, a prophetic timeline, network maps, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, D.Min. · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.