Bible word study
Shuwb (Strong’s H7725): Meaning in the Bible
Shuwb (שׁוּב) is the Hebrew word numbered H7725 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as 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. In the King James Bible it is translated ((break, build, circumcise, dig, do anything.
- Original wordשׁוּב
- Transliterationshûwb
- Pronunciationshoob
- Part of speechverb (v)
- Strong’s numberH7725
- LanguageHebrew
The full Strong’s definition
Derivation. a primitive root;
How the King James Bible translates it
Where Shuwb appears in the Bible
In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Shuwb (H7725) stands behind 1,105 English renderings in 952 verses across 38 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Jeremiah (113), Genesis (73), Psalms (71).
How the King James Bible renders Shuwb, by count
- again248 of 1,105 (22 percent)
- return241 of 1,105 (22 percent)
- returned144 of 1,105 (13 percent)
- turn76 of 1,105 (7 percent)
- back65 of 1,105 (6 percent)
- away56 of 1,105 (5 percent)
Three places to read Shuwb
- Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- 2 Samuel 22:21 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
- Proverbs 24:18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.
Why the word matters
Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Shuwb in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.
The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.
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From the word to the Word
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