me.shu.vah denotes a people’s turning away from the LORD, portrayed as a culpable condition that rebukes, endangers, and can be healed.

The occurrences consistently portray a people’s turning away from the LORD: it is committed by Israel, multiplied among the people, linked with refusal to return, and described as something requiring healing. Singular and plural forms refer to the same kind of unfaithful departure, whether applied to Israel collectively or to repeated acts.

1. Turning away from the LORD · dominant

   The term names Israel’s culpable departure in clauses that describe going after other worship, holding fast to deceit, and refusing to return. In Jeremiah 3:6 the APB renders Israel as having gone on high mountains and under luxuriant trees; in Jeremiah 8:5 it renders the people as refusing to return. Plural construct forms portray such departures as numerous and consequential: in Jeremiah 14:7 the APB renders them as many alongside sin against the LORD, while Jeremiah 3:22 places them as the object of promised healing.

   Jeremiah 3:6Jeremiah 3:8Jeremiah 8:5Jeremiah 14:7Jeremiah 3:22Proverbs 1:32

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “faithlessness,” including plural “faithlessnesses,” and once uses “backslidings” in Jeremiah 14:7. In Hosea 14:5, the term’s individual contribution is not clearly isolated by the supplied translation.