'Back' in the Bible

A wild ass accustomed to a wilderness, In the desire of her soul she hath swallowed up wind, Her meeting -- who doth turn her back? None seeking her do weary themselves, In her month they find her.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

And thou sayest, 'Because I have been innocent, Surely turned back hath His anger from me?' Lo, I have been judged with thee, Because of thy saying, 'I have not sinned.'

Saying, 'Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.

So the showers have been kept back, and there has been no spring rain; still your brow is the brow of a loose woman, you will not let yourself be shamed.

And I say, after her doing all these, Unto Me thou dost turn back, and she hath not turned back, and see it doth her treacherous sister Judah.

And even in all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned back unto Me with all her heart, but with falsehood, an affirmation of Jehovah.'

Go, and thou hast proclaimed these words toward the north, and hast said, Turn back, O backsliding Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah! I cause not Mine anger to fall upon you, For I am kind, an affirmation of Jehovah, I watch not to the age.

Turn back, O backsliding sons, An affirmation of Jehovah. For I have ruled over you, And taken you one of a city, and two of a family, And have brought you to Zion,

At that time the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. "

"I said, "How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.' I said, "You will call me, my father, and won't turn back from following me.'

"Turn back, unfaithful people, and I'll heal your unfaithfulness." "Look, we're coming to you because you are the LORD our God.

If thou dost turn back, O Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, unto Me turn back, And if thou dost turn aside Thine abominations from My face, Then thou dost not bemoan.

For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

I looked at the mountains; they were quaking, and all the hills moved back and forth.

For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

"Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.

Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back.

‘But this people has a stubborn heart and a rebellious will [that draws them away from Me];They have turned away and have gone [into idolatry].

Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;I am tired of holding it back.Pour it out on the children in the street,on the gang of young men as well.For both husband and wife will be captured,the old with the very old.

But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward.

"You are to say to them, "This is what the LORD says: "Will a person fall down and then not get up? Will someone turn away and then not turn back again?

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.

But our tents have been destroyed. The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. Our children are gone and are not coming back. There is no survivor to put our tents back up, no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

So I said to the Lord, "O Lord who rules over all, you are a just judge! You examine people's hearts and minds. I want to see you pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause."

And it hath been, after My plucking them out, I turn back, and have pitied them, And I have brought them back, Each to his inheritance, and each to his land.

I have seen your disgusting acts, even your false behaviour and your cries of desire and your loose ways on the hills in the field. Unhappy are you, O Jerusalem, you have no desire to be made clean; how long will you be in turning back to me?

And their honourable ones have sent their little ones to the water, They have come unto ditches, They have not found water, They have turned back -- their vessels empty! They have been ashamed, And have blushed and covered their head.

I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

You have left Me.This is the Lord’s declaration.You have turned your back,so I have stretched out My hand against youand destroyed you.I am tired of showing compassion.

And I scatter them with a fan, in the gates the land, I bereaved, I have destroyed My people, From their ways they turned not back.

I said, "Lord, you know how I suffer. Take thought of me and care for me. Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me. Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me. Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I'll take you back and you will stand before me. If you speak what is worthwhile, instead of what is worthless, then you will be my spokesman. People will turn to you, but you aren't to turn to them.

Rather it will be said, "As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors.

I will first doubly repay and punish them for their wickedness and their sin [before I return them to their land], because they have profaned My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.”

But [if] that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it.

And now, speak, I pray thee, unto men of Judah, And against inhabitants of Jerusalem, Saying: Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am framing against you evil, And devising against you a device, Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way And amen your ways and your doings.

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

Is evil recompensed instead of good, That they have dug a pit for my soul? Remember my standing before Thee to speak good of them, To turn back Thy wrath from them.

and say to them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In this same way I'll break this people and this city, just as someone breaks a potter's vessel which he then cannot put back together again. They'll bury corpses in Topheth until there is no more room to bury anyone.

Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple, and proclaimed to all the people,

O Lord who rules over all, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people's hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.

The answer will come back, "It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods."

Let there be no weeping for the dead, and make no songs of grief for him: but make bitter weeping for him who has gone away, for he will never come back or see again the country of his birth.

For thus said Jehovah concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who is reigning instead of Josiah his father, who hath gone forth from this place: He doth not turn back hither again;

You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!"

"I'll gather the remnant of my flock from all the countries where I've driven them, and bring them back to their pasture where they'll be fruitful and increase in numbers.

but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up and who led back the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land.

Among the prophets of Jerusalem alsoI saw a horrible thing:They commit adultery and walk in lies.They strengthen the hands of evildoers,and none turns his back on evil.They are all like Sodom to Me;Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

The Lord’s anger will not turn backuntil He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart.In time to come you will understand it clearly.

If they had really stood in My council,they would have enabled My people to hear My wordsand would have turned them back from their evil waysand their evil deeds.

I'll look at them with good intentions, and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up. I won't tear them down; I'll plant them and not rip them up.

And have given to them a heart to know Me, For I am Jehovah, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, For they turned back unto Me with all their heart.

I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

'Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell on the ground that Jehovah hath given to you and to your fathers from age unto age,

They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah’s cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word.

If so be they hearken, and turn back each from his evil way, then I have repented concerning the evil that I am thinking of doing to them, because of the evil of their doings.

and they brought Uriah back from there. They took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him executed and had his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.

Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming, “Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you.

To Babylon they are brought, and there they are till the day of My inspecting them -- an affirmation of Jehovah; then I have brought them up, and have brought them back unto this place.'

and within two years I'll bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's Temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and carried to Babylon.

I'll bring back Jehoiakim's son Jeconiah, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon to this place,' declares the LORD, "for I'll break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

The prophet Jeremiah said, "May the LORD truly do this thing! May the LORD fulfill the words that you prophesied to bring back the vessels of the LORD's Temple and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.

"For this is what the LORD says: "When Babylon's seventy years are completed, I'll take note of you and will fulfill my good promises to you by bringing you back to this place.

I'll be found by you,' declares the LORD, "and I'll restore your security and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I've driven you,' declares the LORD. "I'll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.'

I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

Indeed, the time will come,' declares the LORD, "when I'll restore the security of my people Israel and Judah,' says the LORD. "I'll bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they'll possess it.'"

But they will be servants to the Lord their God and to David their king, whom I will give back to them.

And thou, be not afraid, My servant Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah, Nor be affrighted, O Israel, For, lo, I am saving thee from afar, And thy seed from the land of their captivity, And Jacob hath turned back and rested, And is quiet, and there is none troubling.

Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I turn back to the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And his dwelling places I pity, And the city hath been built on its heap, And the palace according to its ordinance remaineth.

The Lord’s burning anger will not turn backuntil He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart.In time to come you will understand it.

Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them are blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one -- together, A great assembly -- they turn back hither.

They will come weeping,but I will bring them back with consolation.I will lead them to wadis filled with waterby a smooth way where they will not stumble,for I am Israel’s Father,and Ephraim is My firstborn.

Thus said Jehovah: Withhold thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, For there is a reward for thy work, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have turned back from the land of the enemy.

And there is hope for thy latter end, An affirmation of Jehovah, And the sons have turned back to their border.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, 'Thou hast chastised me, And I am chastised, as a heifer not taught, Turn me back, and I turn back, For thou art Jehovah my God.

For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth.

Set up for thee signs, make for thee heaps, Set thy heart to the highway, the way thou wentest, Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back unto these thy cities.

Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Still they say this word in the land of Judah, And in its cities, In My turning back to their captivity, Jehovah doth bless thee, habitation of righteousness, Mountain of holiness.

"But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the Lord. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.

And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.

I'm about to gather my people from all the lands where I've driven them in my anger, wrath, and great indignation. I'll bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

and I have made for them a covenant age-during, in that I turn not back from after them for My doing them good, and My fear I put in their heart, so as not to turn aside from me;

Fields with money they buy, so as to write in a book, and to seal, and to cause witnesses to testify, in the land of Benjamin, and in suburbs of Jerusalem, and in cities of Judah, and in cities of the hill-country, and in cities of the low country, and in cities of the south, for I turn back their captivity -- an affirmation of Jehovah.'

And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah second [time] while he [was] still held back in the courtyard of the guard, {saying},

The defenders of the city will go out and fight with the Babylonians. But they will only fill those houses and buildings with the dead bodies of the people that I will kill in my anger and my wrath. That will happen because I have decided to turn my back on this city on account of the wicked things they have done.

And I have turned back the captivity of Judah, And the captivity of Israel, And I have built them as at the first,

Is a voice of joy and a voice of gladness, Voice of bridegroom, and voice of bride, The voice of those saying, Thank Jehovah of Hosts, for Jehovah is good, For His kindness is to the age, Who are bringing in thanksgiving to the house of Jehovah, For I turn back the captivity of the land, As at the first, said Jehovah.

Also the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, I reject, Against taking from his seed rulers For the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, For I turn back to their captivity, and have pitied them.'

Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had freed and forced them to become slaves again.

'And ye turn back, ye to-day, and ye do that which is right in Mine eyes, to proclaim liberty each to his neighbour, and ye make a covenant before Me in the house over which My name is called.

But you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been freed to go wherever they wanted, and you have again subjugated them to be your slaves.

Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

I am about to give the command”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”