Acts 3:19 · Symbol · Repentance
The Words Shuv and Metanoia
The Hebrew shuv and the Greek metanoia carry what Scripture means by repentance.
Martin Luther's first thesis of 31 October 1517 said that when Christ said “Poenitentiam agite,” He “willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.”
Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- The word
- שׁוּב (shuv), H7725
- First appears
- Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow you will…”
Summary
Scripture holds repentance in more than one word. The Hebrew Bible speaks mostly of turning, and the New Testament mostly of a change of mind, and both testaments join the two. The prophets called Israel to turn back to the LORD and promised that He would turn to them. The Gospels and Acts set the call to repent beside the call to turn to God, and the New Testament keeps a separate word for regret.
- Shuv is an ordinary verb of turning and returning, and the prophets gave it its covenant sense of coming back to God.
- Metanoia names a change of mind that shows itself in a changed life.
- Nacham can mean to be sorry, to relent or to be comforted, and Scripture uses it of God as well as of people.
Scripture's Words for Repentance
Two Hebrew verbs and four Greek words carry turning, repentance and regret.
What do the words behind repent mean, and how far does each one reach? This study of the words answers from the Hebrew and Greek text and from the counts of every use. It belongs to repentance, the turn of the whole person from sin to God, and it gives the words that carry that turn.
The study counts six words and follows shuv from the flood to the prophets. It reads metanoeo and metanoia beside the words for turning and regret, and it reads nacham where it is used of God and of a sinner. It closes with the Latin of Jesus' first call to repent and two cautions for reading the words.
So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’The LORD uses shuv twice in one line, for the people's return and for His own.
But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”Jesus uses the Greek verb for turning back of Peter after his fall.
Where the Words Stand
Shuv is by far the commonest word of the six, and metamelomai the rarest.
Shuv stands more often than the five other words of the table together.
| Word | Uses | Books | Where it stands most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuv (H7725) | 1056 | 38 | Jeremiah 111, Psalms 71, Genesis 68, Ezekiel 63 |
| Nacham (H5162) | 108 | 21 | Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 14, Psalms 12, Genesis 9 |
| Metanoeo (G3340) | 34 | 6 | Revelation 12, Luke 9, Matthew 5, Acts 5 |
| Metanoia (G3341) | 22 | 9 | Acts 6, Luke 5, Hebrews 3, Matthew 2, 2 Corinthians 2 |
| Epistrepho (G1994) | 36 | 12 | Acts 11, Luke 7, Matthew 4, Mark 4 |
| Metamelomai (G3338) | 6 | 3 | Matthew 3, 2 Corinthians 2, Hebrews 1 |
Shuv, from Turning Back to Coming Home
Shuv names the turn of waters and of a people, and the prophets made it the word for coming back to God.
The Tyndale House brief lexicon glosses shuv “to turn back (hence, away)”. Its gloss adds that the turn is “not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point”. The verb is first a word of plain motion. After the flood “the waters receded steadily from the earth” (Genesis 8:3), and the Hebrew of that verse uses shuv twice.
Jeremiah uses the verb more than any other book, and in chapter 3 he turns it into a plea to a faithless people.
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.The LORD calls the northern kingdom back and gives His mercy as the reason to come.
“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.The call to return comes with a promise of healing, and the people answer it.
Metanoeo and Metanoia, a Changed Mind
The Greek verb and noun speak of a mind changed about sin, and the New Testament joins them to deeds and to turning.
The Tyndale House lexicon glosses the verb metanoeo “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction)”. It glosses the noun metanoia “(subjectively) compunction (for guilt, including reformation)”. The verb stands most in Revelation, where the risen Christ calls the churches to repent and the plagues fall on people who will not.
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”Jesus opens His preaching in Matthew with the verb metanoeo.
First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.Paul joins repentance to a turn to God and to deeds that fit it, with metanoeo, epistrepho and metanoia in one verse.
Epistrepho and Metamelomai, Turning and Regret
Epistrepho names the turn itself, and metamelomai names a regret that may or may not end in repentance.
Epistrepho means to turn, and Paul uses it of the Thessalonians, who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Metamelomai is glossed “to care afterwards, i.e. regret.” In a parable of two sons, the first son refused his father, “But later he changed his mind and went” (Matthew 21:29).
but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”The letter uses the word for regret of God only to deny it of Him, which sets metamelomai apart from repentance.
Nacham, Sorrow, Relenting and Comfort
Nacham is used of God who relents and of a sinner who grieves after turning back.
The Tyndale House lexicon glosses nacham “properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly,” with the meanings to be sorry and to comfort. Scripture uses it of God before the flood, “And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6).
In 1 Samuel 15 the LORD says, “I regret that I have made Saul king” (1 Samuel 15:11), and later in the chapter Samuel uses nacham again of the Glory of Israel.
Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”Samuel's answer to Saul keeps the verb from meaning that God wavers as people do.
Ephraim uses the verb of himself in Jeremiah 31:19, “After I returned, I repented,” where the Hebrew has shuv and then nacham.
Paenitentiam Agite in the Latin Bible
The Latin Vulgate rendered Jesus' first call with a phrase that the Douay-Rheims English made do penance.
The Latin Vulgate renders the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:17 as “paenitentiam agite adpropinquavit enim regnum caelorum”. The Douay-Rheims English of the same verse reads, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Greek word behind the Latin phrase is metanoeite, a form of metanoeo. In his second thesis Luther wrote that “this word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.”
Two Cautions in Reading the Words
Each word is read from its verse, and no single word holds the whole of repentance.
A change of mind reaches the life.1 paragraph
John the Baptist told the crowds, “Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8), and he answered their questions with deeds of sharing, honest dealing and contentment (Luke 3:10 to 14).
Regret can stop short of repentance.1 paragraph
Matthew uses metamelomai for Judas, who “was filled with remorse” and returned the silver before he hanged himself (Matthew 27:3 to 5).
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Hebrew and for Greek (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, with the Greek brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922)
- The Latin Vulgate New Testament with the Douay-Rheims English, Matthew 4:17.
- Martin Luther, Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (the Ninety-five Theses), 31 October 1517, theses 1 and 2, in English with the Latin text.
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