to turn: turn
sa.vav describes turning or changing direction, going around, and enclosing people or places in biblical scenes.
The supplied verses most often show a change of direction or orientation, whether someone turns, turns away, or is redirected. They also show movement around a place and the enclosing of a city, house, or object; in several Hiphil clauses the action is presented as causing a heart, face, weapons, or situation to be turned or changed.
Senses in use
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Changing direction or orientation · dominant
In Deuteronomy 2:3 the people have circled the mountain and are told to turn north, while in 1 Chronicles 14:14 David is commanded to turn away from the opposing force and approach from another direction. The supplied forms also mark changed orientation in 1 Kings 8:14, where the king turns his face toward the assembly, and in Ezekiel 10:11, where the wheels move without turning as they go.
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Going about or circling a route · common
In Deuteronomy 2:1 the APB renders the journey as going around Mount Seir for many days. The same movement appears in 1 Samuel 7:16, where Samuel travels around to several places, and in 2 Chronicles 17:9, where teachers go around Judah's cities.
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Surrounding or encircling · common
In Genesis 19:4 the men of Sodom surround the house, and in 2 Kings 6:15 an army with horses and chariots is encircling the city. The term also describes a line going around a pillar or cast-metal sea in 1 Kings 7:15 and 1 Kings 7:23, and the APB renders Deuteronomy 32:10 with God encircling the person found in the wilderness.
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Turning upon someone in hostile action · occasional
In 1 Samuel 22:17 the king orders the guards to turn and kill the priests, and 1 Samuel 22:18 repeats the command to Doeg before he falls upon them. In 2 Chronicles 18:31 the chariot commanders turn upon Jehoshaphat to fight, showing movement directed against a target.
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Causing a reversal or redirected state · occasional
The Hiphil clauses can present the action as bringing about a changed direction or condition: in 1 Kings 18:37 the APB renders the LORD as having turned the people's heart backwards, and in Jeremiah 21:4 as turning back weapons of war. Ezekiel 7:22 similarly has a first-person Hiphil form in the clause rendered, “I will turn my face from them.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB variously renders the clauses with “turn,” “turn away,” “go around,” “encircling,” “surrounded,” and “turned upon.” Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those renderings indicate the clauses' movement or orientation without fixing a separate English equivalent in every occurrence.