Passage
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Hosea 14:4 (KJV)
Nearby Context
Hosea 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
Hosea 14:3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Hosea 14:5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
Hosea 14:6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "heal", "backsliding", "love", "freely", "mine", "anger", "turned", and "away". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "heal" and "backsliding", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 3's "Asshur shall not save us we will..." into verse 5's "I will be as the dew unto...", so "heal" and "backsliding" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "heal" and "backsliding" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.