What does shuv (turn, repent) mean in Hebrew?
Shuv (שׁוּב) is the Hebrew verb "to turn, to return," the Old Testament’s main word for repentance. "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" (Ezek 33:11). To repent is to turn back to God.
What the text states
Shuv is one of the most common verbs in the Hebrew Bible, and its repentance sense is literal: turn around, come back. The prophets plead it: “turn ye even to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). And Ezekiel 33:11 sets God's own heart behind the call: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live... turn ye, turn ye.”
Repentance in the Old Testament is not producing sorrow to earn favor; it is turning back to a God who is already calling, and does not desire the sinner's death.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 45 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. Every Strong's number in the wave-3 notes resolved against our own strongs_greek / strongs_hebrew and the lemma matched the form in the file. Wave 3. 45 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table, all pass. 21 Greek and 3 Hebrew Strong's entries cross-checked against strongs_greek (5,523 rows) and strongs_hebrew (8,674). Three notes, none a form mismatch: (1) G2434 hilasmos is glossed in our table as 'atonement... an expiator', usage 'propitiation', so Strong's own wording is softer than the answer's 'not merely expiation'; Thayer and BDAG carry the propitiation sense and the KJV renders it so. (2) G728 is spelled arrhabon in our table (double rho) against the file's arrabon; the same word, a transliteration convention. (3) our table derives skenoo (G4637) from skenos (G4636), while the answer says it is built on skene (G4633); the three are cognate and skene is the LXX's tabernacle word. One reference in the wave-3 verification notes did not exist: Rev 22:24 (Revelation 22 ends at verse 21). Ruled by Darren 2026-09-29 a typo for Rev 22:17 and corrected in the source file. The hilasmos gloss discrepancy was ruled the same day: the answer stands and is not softened.