What does מְשׁוּבָה (mĕšûbāh) mean in the Bible?
מְשׁוּבָה (mĕšûbāh): Deliberate turning away from covenant loyalty; abandonment of allegiance to God and His law
Hebrew · H4878
מְשׁוּבָה
Apostasy
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מְשׁוּבָה H4878
Pronunciation mĕšûbāh
What does מְשׁוּבָה (mĕšûbāh) mean in the Bible?
מְשׁוּבָה (mĕšûbāh): Deliberate turning away from covenant loyalty; abandonment of allegiance to God and His law
Full entry for מְשׁוּבָה (H4878) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H4878?
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include faithless (3), [and] their unfaithful deeds (1), always turn away (1), O faithless (1), on turning from Me (1).
Where does מְשׁוּבָה (mĕšûbāh) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Proverbs 1:32. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (9), Hosea (2), Proverbs (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It faithless 3× Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:8, Jeremiah 3:11
[and] their unfaithful deeds 1× Jeremiah 5:6
always turn away 1× Jeremiah 8:5
O faithless 1× Jeremiah 3:12
on turning from Me 1× Hosea 11:7
our rebellions 1× Jeremiah 14:7
the waywardness 1× Proverbs 1:32
their apostasy 1× Hosea 14:4
your faithlessness 1× Jeremiah 3:22
your own apostasies 1× Jeremiah 2:19
Show sample aligned rows
Proverbs 1:32 מְשׁוּבַ֣ת to the waywardness Noun - feminine singular construct Jeremiah 2:19 וּמְשֻֽׁבוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ to your own apostasies Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular Jeremiah 3:6 מְשֻׁבָ֣ה to faithless Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 3:8 מְשֻׁבָ֣ה to faithless Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 3:11 מְשֻׁבָ֣ה to Faithless Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 3:12 מְשֻׁבָ֤ה to O faithless Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 3:22 מְשׁוּבֹֽתֵיכֶ֑ם to your faithlessness Noun - feminine plural construct | second person masculine plural Jeremiah 5:6 מְשֻׁבוֹתֵיהֶם׃ to [and] their unfaithful deeds Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural Jeremiah 8:5 מְשֻׁבָ֣ה to always turn away Noun - feminine singular Jeremiah 14:7 מְשׁוּבֹתֵ֖ינוּ to our rebellions Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Proverbs 1:32
Aligned rows 12
Books represented 3
Proverbs 1 Jeremiah 9 Hosea 2
Source forms
מְשֻׁבָ֣ה 4x mə·šu·ḇāh Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:8, Jeremiah 3:11, Jeremiah 8:5
וּמְשֻֽׁבוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ 1x ū·mə·šu·ḇō·w·ṯa·yiḵ Jeremiah 2:19
לִמְשֽׁוּבָתִ֑י 1x lim·šū·ḇā·ṯî Hosea 11:7
מְשֻׁבָ֤ה 1x mə·šu·ḇāh Jeremiah 3:12
מְשֻׁבוֹתֵיהֶם׃ 1x mə·šu·ḇō·ṯē·hɛm Jeremiah 5:6
מְשׁוּבַ֣ת 1x mə·šū·ḇaṯ Proverbs 1:32
מְשׁוּבֹֽתֵיכֶ֑ם 1x mə·šū·ḇō·ṯê·ḵem Jeremiah 3:22
מְשׁוּבֹתֵ֖ינוּ 1x mə·šū·ḇō·ṯê·nū Jeremiah 14:7
Parsing patterns
Noun - feminine singular 5x Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:8, Jeremiah 3:11, Jeremiah 3:12
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular 1x Jeremiah 2:19
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common plural 1x Jeremiah 14:7
Noun - feminine plural construct | second person masculine plural 1x Jeremiah 3:22
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural 1x Jeremiah 5:6
Noun - feminine singular construct 1x Proverbs 1:32
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural 1x Hosea 14:4
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular 1x Hosea 11:7
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Deliberate turning away from covenant loyalty; abandonment of allegiance to God and His law
Source Gloss
apostasy
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Deliberate turning away from covenant loyalty; abandonment of allegiance to God and His law
apostasy BDB: turning back Usage: backsliding, turning away.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Israel's turning away from God, characterized as self-inflicted punishment
Judah's apostasy and unfaithfulness compared to Israel's earlier apostasy
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 13 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain