Hebrew word · H7726

שׁוֹבָב

shovav

turning back

An adjective from shuv, 'to turn, return'. It means 'turning back' or 'turning away', and so 'apostate, rebellious, faithless'. The related form shovev is used of 'faithless Israel' and the 'faithless daughter' (Jer 31:22; 49:4).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

backsliding, backturning, apostate, recusant

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 Isaiah 57:17

Range of meaning

An adjective from shuv, 'to turn, return'. It means 'turning back' or 'turning away', and so 'apostate, rebellious, faithless'. The related form shovev is used of 'faithless Israel' and the 'faithless daughter' (Jer 31:22; 49:4).

Against the English

KJV has 'frowardly' (an old word for perverse, contrary). WEB and ESV have 'backsliding'. NASB has 'turning away'. BSB has 'kept turning back to the desires', which reads it as a return to old habits. YLT's 'turning back' is the most literal.

How it drifted

'Backsliding' was coined in English Bible translation from this root (Jeremiah's 'backsliding children'). Since then it has picked up an evangelical meaning: an individual believer's devotion slowly cooling. Shovav is stronger and more communal. It describes a covenant people deliberately turning their backs.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 3:14, 22: 'Return, O turned-away children (banim shovavim)… I will heal your turnings-away.' Here the word plays directly on shuv, and the promise of healing follows. Mic 2:4 uses a related form for 'the apostate/rebel'.

From the study of Jeremiah 3:14

Range of meaning

Turning away, apostate, recalcitrant, wayward. It is an adjective from the same root as shuv and means "one who has turned (away)." It is used of Israel's defection from Yahweh (Jer 3:14, 22; Isa 57:17 "he went on turning away"). A related form describes the "faithless daughter" in Jer 31:22.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have "backsliding"; BSB and ESV "faithless"; NLT "wayward." In 1611 "backsliding" was close to literal ("sliding back, turning back"). In today's church usage it often suggests a believer whose devotion has slipped, which is milder than the Hebrew. "Faithless" catches the betrayal but loses the pun.

How it drifted

Puritan and revivalist preaching made "backslider" a technical term for an individual Christian who has lapsed. That softened and individualised a word that in Jeremiah describes a nation's open idolatry.

Used elsewhere in the period

The related noun meshuvah, "turning-away" or "apostasy," is used in this same oracle as a nickname: meshuvah yisra'el, "Turn-away Israel" (3:6, 8, 11, 12). Verse 22 repeats the pun: shuvu banim shovavim, "Return, turned-away sons, and I will heal your turnings-away."

From the study of Jeremiah 3:22

Range of meaning

Turning back, turned-away; apostate, recalcitrant, wayward. It is an adjective describing a disposition. It occurs only in Jer 3:14, 3:22 and Isa 57:17. A related form, shoveva, is used of 'faithless daughter' Israel (Jer 31:22) and Ammon (Jer 49:4).

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'backsliding' is etymologically close (sliding backward). Today, though, it suggests a believer cooling off. ESV, NASB and BSB 'faithless' can sound like 'lacking belief.' NLT 'wayward' gets the drifting-off picture but softens the deliberate defection.

How it drifted

'Backsliding' entered English Bibles in the 16th century as a fair word for 'turning back.' In later revival preaching it came to mean an individual's lapse in personal devotion.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 57:17 uses it of someone who 'went on turning away (shovav) in the way of his heart.' The verb behind it (shovev, 'turn back, lead astray') appears in Jer 50:6, where shepherds 'led them astray' on the mountains.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 57:17 שׁוֹבָ֖ב apostate

    I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.

    Here: 'Turned-away.' It comes from shuv, the verb for turning or returning, which is also the Bible's word for repentance. Here the turning goes in the wrong direction: away from God. The irony is pointed: the punishment was meant to bring a turning, and he did turn, but away.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 3:14 שׁוֹבָבִים֙ backsliding

    “Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.

    Here: From the same root as "turn back": "turned-away sons" or "defecting sons." It describes a people who turned their backs on Yahweh for other gods (v. 13). This is open defection, not a mild cooling.

  2. Jeremiah 3:22 שׁוֹבָבִ֔ים backsliding

    “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

    Here: An adjective from the same root as 'return': 'turned-away' or 'turning-away' sons. It describes a settled habit of defection, not one slip. The command and the description use the same word, so they point in opposite directions: turn back, you who turned away.

  3. Jeremiah 50:6 שֽׁוֹבְב֑וּם they have led away them

    My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

    Here: In the reading tradition: 'they turned them aside / led them off' (on the mountains). In the written text: '[the] turning-away mountains'. Either way the word carries Jeremiah's favourite root for turning, which is also his word for backsliding.

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