Study
Word study

Word study

Hebrew

To return

שׁוּבStrong’s H7725

shuv

Appears in 952 verses of the Old Testament

In short

To turn or return. The prophets use it for coming back to God: "Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you" (Zechariah 1:3).

“Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Zechariah 1:3 KJV
Meaning
  1. To return, turn back(Qal) · (Polel) · (Pual) restored (participle)
How it's translated
  • and he returned 63
  • return 54
  • and they returned 38
  • you will return 22
  • they will return 20
  • he will return 20
  • to return 18
  • turn back 16

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Jeremiah 91
  • Psalms 68
  • Genesis 60
  • 1 Kings 54
  • 2 Chronicles 54
  • 2 Kings 53

38 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 952 verses, by book
Song of Solomon 1
6:13
Obadiah 1
1:15
Nahum 1
2:2
Habakkuk 1
2:1
Zephaniah 2
2:73:20
Hebrew dictionary

שׁוּב shuv · to return

: return 1) to return, turn back 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to turn back, return 1a1a) to turn back 1a1b) to return, come or go back 1a1c) to return unto, go back, come back 1a1d) of dying 1a1e) of human relations (fig) 1a1f) of spiritual relations (fig) 1a1f1) to turn back (from God), apostatise 1a1f2) to turn away (of God) 1a1f3) to turn back (to God), repent 1a1f4) turn back (from evil) 1a1g) of inanimate things 1a1h) in repetition 1b) (Polel) 1b1) to bring back 1b2) to restore, refresh, repair (fig) 1b3) to lead away (enticingly) 1b4) to show turning, apostatise 1c) (Pual) restored (participle) …

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “return” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

RETURN, verb intransitive

[Latin torno.]

  1. To come or go back to the same place.
  2. To come to the same state; as, to return from bondage to a state of freedom.
  3. To answer.
  4. To come again; to revisit.
All definitions and other forms of “return”
  1. To appear or begin again after a periodical revolution.
  2. To show fresh signs of mercy.“RETURN, O Lord, deliver my soul” Psalms 6:4

RETURN', verb transitive

  1. To bring, carry or send back; as, to return a borrowed book; to return a hired horse.
  2. To repay; as, to return borrowed money.
  3. To give in recompense or requital.“The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thy own head” 1 Kings 2:44
  4. To give back in reply; as, to return an answer.
  5. To tell, relate or communicate.“And Moses returned the words of the people to the Lord” Exodus 19:8
  6. To retort; to recriminate.
  7. To render an account, usually an official account to a superior.
  8. To render back to a tribunal or to an office; as, to return a writ or an execution.
  9. To report officially; as, an officer returns his proceedings on the back of a writ or precept.
  10. To send; to transmit; to convey.

RETURN', noun

  1. The act of coming or going back to the same place.
  2. The act of sending back; as the return of a borrowed book or of money lent.
  3. The act of putting in the former place.
  4. Retrogression; the act of moving back.
  5. The act or process of coming back to a former state; as the return of health.
  6. Revolution; a periodical coming to the same point; as the return of the sun to the tropic of Cancer.
  7. Periodical renewal; as the return of the seasons or of the year.
  8. Repayment; reimbursement in kind or in something equivalent, for money expended or advanced, or for labor.
  9. Profit; advantage.
  10. Remittance; payment from a distant place.
  11. Repayment; retribution; requital.
  12. Act of restoring or giving back; restitution.
  13. Either of the adjoining sides of the front of a house or ground-plot, is called a return side.
  14. In law, the rendering back or delivery of a writ, precept or execution, to the proper officer or court; or the certificate of the officer executing it, indorsed.
  15. A day in bank.
  16. In military and naval affairs, an official account, report or statement rendered to the commander; as the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, ammunition, etc.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.