Reference: Backslider
Morish
There are four Hebrew words applied to backsliding.
1. sug, 'to go back:' 'the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways,' instead of God's ways. Pr 14:14.
2. sarar, to act like a refractory heifer, that will not draw regularly in the plough: to which Israel is compared. Ho 4:16.
3. meshubah, 'a turning away, apostasy.' Jer 2:19; 3:6-12,22; 5:6; 8:5; 14:7; Ho 11:7; 14:4.
4. shobeb 'rebellious, backsliding.' Jer 3:14,22; 31:22; 49:4. The last three words are all used of backsliding Israel. We do not find the word 'backslider' in the N.T. but the same sin is there pointed out, for instance the drawing back which may lead to perdition as in Heb 10:38-39. See APOSTASY.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied with his.
"Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the LORD your God, And the dread of Me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. "I thought, 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me'; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. read more. "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. "Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. "Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception," declares the LORD. And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look upon you in anger For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angry forever.
'Return, O faithless sons,' declares the LORD; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.'
"Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God.
"Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God.
Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, A wolf of the deserts will destroy them, A leopard is watching their cities Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, Because their transgressions are many, Their apostasies are numerous.
"Why then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return.
"Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for Your name's sake! Truly our apostasies have been many, We have sinned against You.
"How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-- A woman will encompass a man."
"How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O backsliding daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'
Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn heifer, Can the LORD now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field?
So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.
I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them.
BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.