Hebrew word · H5472

סוּג

sug

to turn

To turn back, withdraw, recoil. With ʾāḥôr ("backward") it means to be forced into retreat. It can also describe turning away from loyalty (Psalm 44:18 [Heb 44:19]: "our heart has not turned back").

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to move, go, turn back, move away, backslide

1a) (Qal) to backslide, prove recreant to

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to turn oneself away, turn back

1b2) to be turned or driven back, be repulsed

Also means: sug (שׂוּג "to turn back" H7734)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 35:4

Range of meaning

To turn back, withdraw, recoil. With ʾāḥôr ("backward") it means to be forced into retreat. It can also describe turning away from loyalty (Psalm 44:18 [Heb 44:19]: "our heart has not turned back").

Against the English

KJV and WEB have "turned back", BSB "driven back". Both are accurate. BSB's "driven" brings out that someone else does the pushing, which suits verse 5, where the angel of the LORD drives them off.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 42:17: idol-worshippers "shall be turned back and utterly put to shame". Psalm 129:5: "May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward." The same pairing of shame and turning back appears in Psalms 40:14 [Heb 40:15] and 70:2 [Heb 70:3], which are near-copies of this line. The Septuagint has apostraphētōsan eis ta opisō.

From the study of Proverbs 14:14

Range of meaning

To move back or away, to turn aside, to withdraw. In several passages it means turning away from loyalty: 'our heart has not turned back' (Ps 44:18 [Heb 44:19]); 'then we will not turn back from you' (Ps 80:18 [Heb 80:19]); 'turning back from following our God' (Isa 59:13); 'those who have turned back from following the LORD' (Zeph 1:6). A related form means to move a boundary marker (Deut 19:14; Prov 22:28), which is the same idea of shifting something from its proper line.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, ESV and NASB say 'backslider in heart'. NIV says 'the faithless'. WEB says 'the unfaithful'. NRSV says 'the perverse'. 'Backslider' fits the word's basic picture of slipping backwards. 'Faithless' or 'disloyal' gets at what it means in relationship. 'Perverse' widens it into general wickedness.

How it drifted

The KJV coined or popularised 'backslider' for several Hebrew words (also mᵊšûbâ, 'turning', in Jeremiah). In later revival and evangelical preaching it came to mean a Christian who has fallen away from a conversion commitment, and it got tied up in arguments about whether salvation can be lost. Neither idea belongs to the Hebrew word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Biblical uses are mostly in covenant settings: Psalms of lament (Ps 44; 80), prophetic rebukes (Isa 59; Zeph 1). The 'move back' sense appears in the boundary-stone laws. The Septuagint of this verse turns it into a quite different idea, thrasykardios, 'bold-hearted' or 'rash'.

From the study of Isaiah 50:5

Range of meaning

'To be turned back' or 'to draw back'. It has two main uses. (1) Military: falling back or being routed in shame (Ps 35:4; 40:14 [Heb 40:15]; 70:2 [Heb 70:3]; 129:5; Isa 42:17). (2) Covenant: deserting God, apostasy (Isa 59:13; Zeph 1:6; Jer 38:22; Ps 44:18 [Heb 44:19], 'our heart has not turned back').

Against the English

'Turned back' (BSB, WEB, NASB, ESV 'turned not backward') keeps the picture. NIV and NLT 'turned away' lose some of the physical sense of retreat or flinching.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 42:17: idol-worshippers 'shall be turned back (nasogu ʾaḥor) and utterly shamed'. Isaiah 59:13 confesses 'turning back from following our God'. Psalm 44:18-19 is a close match: a suffering people protests that 'our heart has not turned back' even though they are being crushed.

Where it appears

Psalms · 8

  1. Psalm 35:4 יִסֹּ֣גוּ may they be turned back

    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: "May they be turned back." A picture from battle: an advancing attacker is forced to give ground and retreat.

  2. Psalm 40:14 יִסֹּ֣גוּ may they be turned back

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

    Here: 'May they be driven back.' The passive form suggests someone else, God, forces them back. It is battle language for an attack that is beaten off.

  3. Psalm 44:18 נָס֣וֹג it had turned back

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

    Here: The passive-reflexive form (niphal) means 'turned itself back, drew back'. This is standard Hebrew wording for desertion and disloyalty, like a soldier falling back or an ally walking out on a treaty. The perfect tense looks back at the time before the disaster: the heart had not done this.

  4. Psalm 53:3 סָג֮ he turns back

    All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

  5. Psalm 70:2 יִסֹּ֣גוּ may they be turned back

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

    Here: 'May they be turned back' (passive form). The picture is an attack that is pushed back, attackers made to give up ground.

  6. Psalm 78:57 וַיִּסֹּ֣גוּ and they turned back

    They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.

    Here: They pulled back or drew away from God, like soldiers falling back from a line or a person backing off from a commitment. Placed first, it shows the movement before the betrayal: they withdrew.

  7. Psalm 80:18 נָס֥וֹג we will turn back

    Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name.

    Here: 'We will turn back' or 'we will retreat'. The verb pictures someone backing away or withdrawing, as soldiers do in retreat, and it is used for deserting loyalty to God. Here the people promise not to desert God again. The imperfect form looks to the future: it is a vow.

  8. Psalm 129:5 וְיִסֹּ֣גוּ and they may be turned back

    May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 14:14 ס֣וּג [one] backslidden of

    The backslider in heart receives the fill of his own ways, but a good man is rewarded for his ways.

    Here: Here it works as a noun, 'the one who turns aside': someone who has drifted or pulled back from the right path, a disloyal deviator. It pairs with 'heart' to mean a person whose inner direction has swerved.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 42:17 נָסֹ֤גוּ they will be turned back

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

    Here: A passive-reflexive verb form: 'they are turned back / forced to retreat.' It is the language of an army routed on the battlefield, and it answers verse 13, where the LORD marches out 'like a warrior' against his enemies. The past-tense form is used for a future event viewed as already certain.

  2. Isaiah 50:5 נְסוּגֹֽתִי׃ I have turned back

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

    Here: A form meaning 'I did not draw back' or 'I was not turned back'. The phrase 'turn back' is used of troops falling back in defeat and of people abandoning God. Here it means the servant did not shrink from the mission, even though, as v. 6 shows, it led into beatings and spitting.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 38:22 נָסֹ֥גוּ they have turned

    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.’

  2. Jeremiah 46:5 נְסֹגִ֣ים [they will be] turned back

    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.

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 1:6 הַנְּסוֹגִ֖ים those [who] have turned back

    and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”

    Here: A participle (a verb used like a noun: 'the ones turning back'). It describes a settled condition of having pulled back or retreated, the way an army falls back or a person backs away from someone they had been following.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.