'Back' in the Bible

Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’For they have turned their back to Me,And not their face;But in the time of their trouble they will say,‘Arise and save us.’

“For this, put on sackcloth,Lament and wail;For the fierce anger of the LordHas not turned back from us.”

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone 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.”

And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.

So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’

‘Like an east wind I will scatter themBefore the enemy;I will show them My back and not My faceIn the day of their calamity.’”

‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center of this city.

“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.All of them have become to Me like Sodom,And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

“The anger of the Lord will not turn backUntil He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;In the last days you will clearly understand it.

“But if they had stood in My council,Then they would have announced My words to My people,And would have turned them back from their evil wayAnd from the evil of their deeds.

‘They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day I visit them,’ declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’”

Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.

I am also going to bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord confirm your words which you have prophesied to bring back the vessels of the Lord’s house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place.

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

For behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’”

The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn backUntil He has performed and until He has accomplishedThe intent of His heart;In the latter days you will understand this.

“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving,‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,Like an untrained calf;Bring me back that I may be restored,For You are the Lord my God.

‘For after I turned back, I repented;And after I was instructed, I smote on my thigh;I was ashamed and also humiliatedBecause I bore the reproach of my youth.’

They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.

Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.

But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.

Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.”’

Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

‘Then behold, all of the women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,“Your close friendsHave misled and overpowered you;While your feet were sunk in the mire,They turned back.”

As Jeremiah was still not going back, he said, “Go on back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people; or else go anywhere it seems right for you to go.” So the captain of the bodyguard gave him a ration and a gift and let him go.

So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were soldiers, the women, the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the Lord your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the Lord will answer you. I will not keep back a word from you.”

“Why have I seen it?They are terrified,They are drawing back,And their mighty men are defeatedAnd have taken refuge in flight,Without facing back;Terror is on every side!”Declares the Lord.

“They have repeatedly stumbled;Indeed, they have fallen one against another.Then they said, ‘Get up! And let us go backTo our own people and our native landAway from the sword of the oppressor.’

“Also her mercenaries in her midstAre like fattened calves,For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;They did not stand their ground.For the day of their calamity has come upon them,The time of their punishment.

“Because of the noise of the galloping hoofs of his stallions,The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,The fathers have not turned back for their children,Because of the limpness of their hands,

“How shattered it is! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back—he is ashamed! So Moab will become a laughingstock and an object of terror to all around him.”

“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,And rush back and forth inside the walls;For Malcam will go into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.

“Flee away, turn back, dwell in the depths,O inhabitants of Dedan,For I will bring the disaster of Esau upon himAt the time I punish him.

“Cut off the sower from BabylonAnd the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;From before the sword of the oppressorThey will each turn back to his own peopleAnd they will each flee to his own land.

And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.