H7725 — שׁוּב (shûwb)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7725
Original: שׁוּב
Transliteration: shûwb
Pronunciation: shoob
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: primitive root — no derived parent
Occurrences: 952 unique verses (1,394 tokens) across 38 books
First Occurrence: Gen 3:19 — "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbial, again. KJV renderings include: return, turn (back/away/again), bring (again/back), restore, come again, answer, render, recompense, recover, deliver, convert, repent, requite, rescue, refresh, withdraw.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	683	return, turn back, come back (intransitive)
Hiphil	357	cause to return, bring back, restore, answer (causative)
Piel	11	turn back (intensified — often apostasy: "turned them away" Jer 50:6)
Hophal	5	be brought back, be restored (causative passive)

The Qal/Hiphil distinction is semantically critical. Qal shub = the subject returns or turns; Hiphil heshib = the subject causes another to return, brings back, or restores something. The restitution/restoration sense is almost exclusively Hiphil.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
return / returned / returneth	~250	26%
again (adverbial)	87	9%
turn / turned / turneth (back/away)	~80	8%
bring (again/back)	~50	5%
come again / came again	~30	3%
restore / restored	~20	2%
answer / answered	~12	1%
render / rendered	~10	1%
recompense / recompensed	~8	1%
convert / converted	~5	1%
repent	~4	<1%
recover / recovered	~4	<1%
Other (fro, withdraw, requite, rescue, refresh, etc.)	~390	41%

Note: The large "Other" category reflects that shub is frequently translated as part of multi-word phrases where the KJV uses auxiliary verbs, adverbs, or idiomatic constructions rather than a single word.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Hosea	21	10.7
Amos	15	10.3
Malachi	5	9.1
Lamentations	13	8.4
Jonah	4	8.3
Joel	6	8.2
Zechariah	16	7.6
2 Kings	53	7.4
2 Samuel	47	6.8
Jeremiah	92	6.7
1 Kings	54	6.6
2 Chronicles	54	6.6
1 Samuel	43	5.3
Joshua	33	5.0
Esther	8	4.8
Judges	27	4.4
Nehemiah	18	4.4
Ezekiel	53	4.2
Ecclesiastes	9	4.1
Genesis	60	3.9
Isaiah	50	3.9
Micah	4	3.8
Job	38	3.6
Daniel	12	3.4
Deuteronomy	31	3.2
Psalms	67	2.7
Proverbs	23	2.5
Numbers	30	2.3
Exodus	24	2.0
Leviticus	14	1.6
Ezra	4	1.4
Ruth	13	—
1 Chronicles	5	0.5
Song of Solomon	1	—

Highest density in the Minor Prophets (Hosea, Amos, Malachi, Joel) where the prophetic call to repentance dominates. Historical books (Kings, Samuel, Chronicles) show heavy narrative use. Jeremiah has the highest raw count (92v), using shub for both the call to repent and the promise of restoration from exile. Absent from only 1 OT book (Nahum has 1 occurrence).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Physical Return / Travel Back¶

The basic, literal sense: a person or group physically returns to a place of origin. - Gen 8:9 — "the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark" - Gen 22:19 — "So Abraham returned unto his young men" - Josh 10:15 — "And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal" - Ruth 1:6 — "Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab"

2. Spiritual Return / Repentance (Turning to God)¶

The prophetic call to turn back to YHWH — the theological heart of shub. This is the OT's primary vocabulary for repentance. - Deut 30:2 — "And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice" - Isa 55:7 — "Let the wicked forsake his way... and let him return unto the LORD" - Jer 3:12 — "Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD" - Hos 14:1 — "O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity" - Joel 2:13 — "turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful" - Mal 3:7 — "Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts"

3. Turning Away / Apostasy¶

The negative mirror of Category 2: turning away from God, His commandments, or righteousness. - Num 14:43 — "because ye are turned away from the LORD" - Jer 8:5 — "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?" - Eze 18:24 — "when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity" - Eze 33:18 — "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby"

4. Restitution / Restoration of Property or Persons (Hiphil)¶

The Hiphil causative sense of making whole again — returning stolen goods, restoring persons to their position, or giving back what was taken. This is the sense operative in Num 5:7-8. - Gen 20:7 — "Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet" - Gen 42:25 — "Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack" - Lev 6:4 — "he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten" - Num 5:7 — "he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof" - Neh 5:11 — "Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards" - Eze 33:15 — "If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed"

5. Divine Restoration / Turning Captivity¶

God as subject: bringing back from exile, reversing judgment, restoring fortunes. The idiom shub shebuth ("turn the captivity") appears ~30 times. - Deut 30:3 — "the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee" - Jer 29:14 — "I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations" - Jer 30:18 — "I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces" - Eze 39:25 — "Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel" - Joel 3:1 — "when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" - Amos 9:14 — "I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel"

6. Return to Dust / Mortality¶

The cosmic sense: human beings returning to the ground from which they were made. - Gen 3:19 — "till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" - Job 34:15 — "All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust" - Ecc 3:20 — "All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" - Ecc 12:7 — "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it"

7. Rendering / Requiting / Recompensing¶

God or humans giving back according to deeds — retribution or reward. - Deut 32:41 — "I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me" - Jdg 9:57 — "all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads" - Psa 28:4 — "Give them according to their deeds... render to them their desert" - Pro 24:29 — "I will render to the man according to his work" - Joel 3:4 — "will ye render me a recompence?"

8. Adverbial "Again" (Repetition)¶

Used adverbially with another verb to express doing something again — the most frequent single KJV translation (87 verses). - Gen 26:18 — "Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham" - Exo 4:7 — "Put thine hand into thy bosom again" - Pro 26:11 — "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (Yᵉhovah)	H3068	263x (28%)	"return unto the LORD" / "the LORD will bring again"
אָמַר (ʼamar)	H559	258x (27%)	Prophetic speech framing: "thus saith the LORD... return"
אֶרֶץ (ʼerets)	H776	113x (12%)	Return to the land / bring again to the land
בּוֹא (boʼ)	H935	112x (12%)	"come again" / "bring back" paired movement verbs
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	112x (12%)	Royal narratives: kings returning from battle
אֱלֹהִים (ʼelohiym)	H430	109x (11%)	"return unto God" / "God shall bring again"
עָשָׂה (ʻasah)	H6213	97x (10%)	"do again" / "turn from evil doings"
עַם (ʻam)	H5971	94x (10%)	People returning / God restoring His people
פָּנִים (paniym)	H6440	92x (10%)	"turn away the face" / "turn the face toward"
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	85x (9%)	Restoration: "give again" / "render"

Word Family / Cognates¶

H4878 מְשׁוּבָה (mᵉshuwbah) — backsliding, turning away (derived feminine noun; 12v; almost exclusively Jeremiah/Hosea; "backsliding Israel/children")
H7729 שׁוּבָה (shuwbah) — return (feminine noun; hapax in Isa 30:15 "in returning and rest shall ye be saved")
H8421 תּוּב (tuwb) — Aramaic cognate "to come back, answer" (8v in Ezra/Daniel)

Synonyms (from SDBH)¶

H5162 נָחַם (nacham) — to comfort, repent, relent (the other Hebrew word rendered "repent"; nacham emphasizes emotional change/sorrow, shub emphasizes directional turning)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
סוּר (sur)	H5493	"turn away"	sur = depart from, remove; shub = turn back to origin
נָטָה (natah)	H5186	"turn away/aside"	natah = stretch, extend, incline; shub = reverse direction
פָּנָה (panah)	H6437	"turn"	panah = face toward, turn the face; shub = reverse course
סָבַב (sabab)	H5437	"turn, turn about"	sabab = go around, surround, revolve; shub = go back
הָפַךְ (haphak)	H2015	"turn, turn back"	haphak = overturn, transform; shub = return to former state
נָחַם (nacham)	H5162	"repent"	nacham = sigh, relent, feel compassion; shub = change direction

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
ἐπιστρέφω (epistrephō) G1994	322	4.28	Primary: "turn back, return, convert" — carries the repentance sense into the NT
ἀποστρέφω (apostrephō) G654	267	4.11	"turn away from" — captures the aversion/apostasy sense
ἀναστρέφω (anastrephō) G390	67	4.29	"overturn, return" — narrative physical return
ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi) G591	53	3.17	"give back, render, recompense" — captures the restitution/requite sense
πάλιν (palin) G3825	24	3.82	"again" — captures the adverbial repetition sense
ἀποκαθίστημι (apokathistēmi) G600	19	3.94	"restore, reconstitute" — captures the restoration sense

The LXX splits shub across multiple Greek words, each capturing a different semantic strand. The epistrephō bridge (322×) is by far the strongest and carries the repentance/conversion meaning directly into NT usage (Acts 3:19, 26:18, 1 Thess 1:9).