Charles Ellicott Commentary Hosea 4:16

"For Israel hath behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer: now will Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place." — Hosea 4:16 (ASV)

Slideth back. — More correctly, is stubborn as a stubborn cow.

Will feed them as a lamb in a large place. — An expression of tender commiseration (so Ewald). But most commentators understand it in an unfavourable sense, i.e., will lead them out into the desolate wilderness, a prey to wild beasts, or into the loneliness that a lamb would feel in a boundless pasture.