šûb

Semantic range

1. 1to turn around physically
2. 2to return to a place or person
3. 3to turn back to God — the prophetic call to repentance
4. 4to restore, bring back

Repentance in Hebrew is spatial. It is not primarily feeling sorry; it is turning around and going back — which means it presupposes that there is somewhere to return to and Someone waiting there. Nearly every prophetic summons to repent uses this verb: "Turn ye even to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12); "Return, ye backsliding children" (Jeremiah 3:22).

The word also does double duty for God's action: He restores, brings back, returns the captivity. The same verb that describes the sinner's turn describes the Lord's gathering, which is the shape of the covenant relationship in miniature.

The Greek metanoia shifts the metaphor from direction to mind, and English "repentance" (through Latin paenitere, to regret) shifts it again toward feeling — the furthest of the three from the original. Latter-day Saint teaching, from Alma 5 to the modern handbook, keeps insisting on the Hebrew sense: change of course, not merely change of mood.

See also

• μετάνοιαmetanoia
• ἐπιστρέφωepistrephō
• אָמַןʾāman