to return: return
shuv chiefly marks going back to a place or person, and can also describe restoring, reversing, or answering.
The supplied verses most often use the term for people or things going back to a place, route, or person. Its causative forms also describe bringing something back, restoring a kingdom, city, land, or bodily condition, while several clauses extend the reversal to a heart, a face, blood, or a spoken answer.
Senses in use
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Going back to a place or person · dominant
Qal forms describe a person or group changing course and going back: in 1 Kings 13:19 the man of God goes back with the prophet, and in 1 Kings 22:33 the chariot commanders turn back from pursuit. The same movement appears when David returns after striking the Philistine in 1 Samuel 17:57 and when people are told to go back to their houses in 1 Kings 12:24.
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Bringing back or restoring · common
Hiphil forms place an agent in the action of restoring or bringing something back. In 1 Kings 20:34 Ben-hadad promises to restore cities, in 1 Kings 8:34 the prayer asks that the people be restored to their land, and in 1 Kings 13:29 the prophet brings the body back to his city.
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Turning back in allegiance or conduct · occasional
The term can mark a reversal in a person's inward orientation or course. In 1 Kings 12:27 the people's heart turns to Rehoboam, while in 1 Kings 8:35 the APB renders the clause "turn from their sin"; 1 Kings 8:47 joins returning to the heart with entreating God in captivity.
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Giving an answer or turning something away · rare
In Hiphil clauses, the term can concern a response or refusal rather than travel. Rehoboam asks how he should answer the people in 1 Kings 12:6, and the requests in 1 Kings 2:16 and 1 Kings 2:20 ask that a face not be turned away. In 1 Chronicles 21:12, the speaker asks what word he should return to the one who sent him.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses the APB commonly uses "return," "returned," "back," and "turn," and it also uses "restore" where a kingdom, cities, land, or condition is being brought back. Because the APB translates whole clauses rather than aligning individual words, these renderings indicate the verse context rather than a fixed English equivalent.