אָחוֹר

Genesis 49:17 אָחֽוֹר׃ backwards

He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

Exodus 26:12 אֲחֹרֵ֥י [the] rear of

As for the overlap that remains of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over shall hang down over the back of the tabernacle.

Here: The rear side of the structure. The entrance faced east (Exod 26:22; 27:13), so the back was the west end, where the Most Holy Place and the ark stood.

Exodus 33:23 אֲחֹרָ֑י back parts my

Then I will take My hand away, and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

2 Samuel 1:22 אָח֑וֹר backwards

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not retreat, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.

2 Samuel 10:9 וּמֵֽאָח֑וֹר and from behind

When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.

1 Kings 7:25 אֲחֹֽרֵיהֶ֖ם hindquarters their

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

1 Chronicles 19:10 וְאָח֑וֹר and back

When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.

2 Chronicles 4:4 אֲחֹרֵיהֶ֖ם hindquarters their

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center.

2 Chronicles 13:14 וְאָח֔וֹר and behind

When Judah turned and discovered that the battle was both before and behind them, they cried out to the LORD. Then the priests blew the trumpets,

Job 23:8 וְ֝אָח֗וֹר and backwards

If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him.

Psalm 9:3 אָח֑וֹר backwards

When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You.

Psalm 35:4 אָח֣וֹר backwards

May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded.

Here: "Backward." It strengthens the verb: not just stopped, but pushed back the way they came.

Psalm 40:14 אָ֭חוֹר backwards

May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.

Here: 'Backward.' It strengthens the picture of a broken attack: the enemy turns and runs instead of advancing.

Psalm 44:10 אָ֭חוֹר backwards

You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

Psalm 44:18 אָח֣וֹר backwards

Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

Here: 'Backward', the direction of retreat. Together with sûg it forms the set phrase 'turn back', used for people who stop following YHWH (Isa 50:5; Zeph 1:6; Jer 38:22).

Psalm 56:9 אָ֭חוֹר backwards

Then my enemies will retreat on the day I cry for help. By this I will know that God is on my side.

Here: 'Backward.' Repeating the idea of 'turn' strengthens it: they don't just pause, they go back the way they came. The pairing is a fixed idiom for defeat and shame.

Psalm 70:2 אָ֭חוֹר backwards

May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.

Here: 'Backward.' It strengthens the verb: they retreat the way they came, their advance undone.

Psalm 78:66 אָח֑וֹר backwards

He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame.

Psalm 114:3 לְאָחֽוֹר׃ to backwards

The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;

Here: 'To the rear.' Together with the verb it means retreating, the reverse of the river's natural downhill flow, and it carries the sense of a beaten enemy pulling back.

Psalm 114:5 לְאָחֽוֹר׃ to backwards

Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,

Psalm 129:5 אָח֑וֹר backward

May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.

Psalm 139:5 אָח֣וֹר back part

You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.

Proverbs 29:11 בְּאָח֥וֹר in backwards

A fool vents all his anger, but a wise man holds it back.

Here: Literally 'in back' or 'at the back'. Most likely he keeps the spirit back or pulls it back; some read it in time, 'afterward / in the end'. The phrase is unusual and its exact force is debated.

Isaiah 1:4 אָחֽוֹר׃ back part

Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.

Here: 'Backward': they have turned their backs and walked away in the wrong direction. Together with the verb it gives the picture of a son who turns his back on his father's house.

Isaiah 9:12 מֵֽאָח֔וֹר from [the] west

Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

Here: With one facing east, 'behind' is the west, toward the Mediterranean. Paired with qedem, the picture is of Israel caught between two attackers at front and back.

Isaiah 28:13 אָחוֹר֙ backwards

Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.

Here: They fall backward, the opposite of moving forward. It suggests defeat and being pushed back (compare Isa 1:4, 'turned backward').

Isaiah 41:23 לְאָח֔וֹר to afterwards

Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something good or evil, that we may look on together in dismay.

Isaiah 42:17 אָחוֹר֙ backwards

But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

Here: 'Backward.' Paired with the verb it makes a fixed phrase for retreat in defeat (Pss 35:4; 40:14; 70:2; 129:5). It is the opposite of the blind in verse 16, whom God leads forward on a level road.

Isaiah 42:23 לְאָחֽוֹר׃ to afterwards

Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?

Isaiah 44:25 אָח֖וֹר backwards

who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

Here: 'Backward', which reinforces 'turns back'. Their learning goes into reverse and ends in defeat and humiliation (compare Isaiah 42:17, where idol-trusters are 'turned back' in shame).

Isaiah 50:5 אָח֖וֹר backwards

The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.

Here: 'Backward'. It is placed first in its clause for emphasis: 'backward I did not turn'. The picture is a body turning away from where it was told to face.

Isaiah 59:14 אָחוֹר֙ backwards

So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

Here: 'Backward.' It doubles the idea of retreat, and it echoes 'from behind (meʾaḥar) our God' in v.13: the people stepped back from God, and justice is driven backward.

Jeremiah 7:24 לְאָח֖וֹר <to> backwards

Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

Here: 'To the back, backward'. A direction word: they faced or moved the wrong way. It can also suggest turning one's back on someone.

Jeremiah 15:6 אָח֣וֹר backwards

You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.

Here: 'Backward.' Put first for emphasis, it reverses the expected direction of a people walking with their God.

Jeremiah 38:22 אָחֽוֹר׃ backwards

All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’

Jeremiah 46:5 אָחוֹר֒ backwards

Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.

Lamentations 1:8 אָחֽוֹר׃ ס backward

Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.

Here: 'Backward': she shrinks back and turns her face away, the gesture of someone humiliated who wants to hide from the people staring at her.

Lamentations 1:13 אָח֔וֹר backward

He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.

Here: 'Backward.' Together with the verb this means being forced to retreat, as a defeated army is (Ps 44:10), or as a hunted animal is turned back into the net. Every way out is shut.

Lamentations 2:3 אָח֛וֹר backward

In fierce anger He has cut off every horn of Israel and withdrawn His right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it.

Here: 'Backward.' It doubles the idea of retreat: the hand is not just still but pulled back, as a fighter lowers his guard.

Ezekiel 2:10 וְאָח֑וֹר and back

which He unrolled before me. And written on the front and back of it were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.

Ezekiel 8:16 אֲחֹ֨רֵיהֶ֜ם backs their

So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

Here: Their backsides are turned to Yahweh's palace. In a world ruled by honor and shame, turning your back on a king is a public snub, and to bow down while facing away is even worse.