Returned to good conduct / to return to the right (straight) path/ to reform
Began behaving well after previously behaving badly. Returned to proper conduct after acting improperly. Returned to a proper, normal way of life.
("If they do not repent, they will not be redeemed; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, appoints over them a king whose decrees are as harsh as Haman's, and Israel repents and brings them back to better conduct" - Sanhedrin 97b; and similarly: "When the Torah expands and spreads ... then it brings the nation back to the better path, stripping away the crookedness in its heart" - Berdichevsky, Writings B, 14; and similarly: "People who had been sunk among the husks returned through him to better ways and merited to stroll in the Garden of Eden" - Agnon, These and Those, In My Tent, the Homily, 173)
Translation
Expression (Hebrew)
חָזַר לְמוּטָב
Definition (Hebrew)
הֵחֵל לְהִתְנַהֵג בְּצוּרָה טוֹבָה אַחֲרֵי שֶׁנָּהַג בְּצוּרָה קְלוֹקֶלֶת. חָזַר לְהִתְנַהֵג כָּרָאוּי לְאַחַר שֶׁנָּהַג לֹא לֹא כַּשּׁוּרָה. חָזַר לְאֹרַח חַיִּים תַּקִּין וְנוֹרְמָטִיבִי.
("אִם אֵין עוֹשִׂין תְּשׁוּבָה אֵין נִגְאָלִין, אֶלָּא הקב"ה מַעֲמִיד לָהֶן מֶלֶךְ שֶׁגְּזֵרוֹתָיו קָשׁוֹת כְּהָמָן, וְיִשְׂרָאֵל עוֹשִׂין תְּשׁוּבָה וּמַחְזִירָן לְמוּטָב"- סַנְהֶדְרִין צז ע"ב, וְכֵן:"כְּשֶׁהַתּוֹרָה מִתְרַחֶבֶת וּמִתְפַּשֶּׁטֶת...אָז מְחַזֶּרֶת אֶת הָאֻמָּה לְמוּטָב, מְפַשֶּׁטֶת הָעַקְמוּמִיּוּת שֶׁבְּלִבָּהּ"- בֶּרְדִּיצֶ'בְסְקִי/ כְּתָבִים ב, 14, וְכֵן:"בְּנֵי אָדָם שֶׁהָיוּ מְשֻׁקָּעִים בֵּין הַקְּלִפּוֹת חָזְרוּ עַל יָדוֹ לְמוּטָב וְזָכוּ לְטַיֵּל בְּגַן עֵדֶן"- עַגְנוֹן/ אֵלּוּ וָאֵלּוּ, בְּאֹהֶל בֵּיתִי, הַדְּרָשָׁה, 173)