חָמַל

Exodus 2:6 וַתַּחְמֹ֣ל and she had compassion

When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

Deuteronomy 13:8 תַחְמֹ֥ל you will spare [him]

you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him.

1 Samuel 15:3 תַחְמֹ֖ל you must have compassion

Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Here: To feel for something and so hold back from destroying it. This is the very verb the narrator uses when Saul and the people 'spared' Agag and the best animals (vv. 9, 15). The thing forbidden here is the thing they do.

1 Samuel 15:9 וַיַּחְמֹל֩ and he had compassion

Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

1 Samuel 15:15 חָמַ֤ל it had compassion

Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

1 Samuel 23:21 חֲמַלְתֶּ֖ם you have had compassion

“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.

2 Samuel 12:4 וַיַּחְמֹ֗ל and he spared

Now a traveler came to the rich man, who refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.”

2 Samuel 12:6 חָמָֽל׃ he showed pity

Because he has done this thing and has shown no pity, he must pay for the lamb four times over.”

Here: The verb means to hold back from harming or taking something because you feel for it. The rich man in v. 4 "spared" (same verb) taking from his own flock, but he did not spare the poor man's only lamb. The man had restraint, and he used it only for his own property.

2 Samuel 21:7 וַיַּחְמֹ֣ל and he had compassion

Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

Here: The usual Hebrew 'and then' verb form that moves a story forward. In context it reads as 'but': David has just promised to hand over seven of Saul's descendants (v. 6), and now he holds one back. The verb means to feel for someone and, because of that, keep harm away from them.

2 Chronicles 36:15 חָמַ֥ל he had compassion

Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.

Here: Pity that holds back from destroying. God was unwilling to let his people and his house be wiped out, so he warned them instead.

2 Chronicles 36:17 חָמַ֛ל he had compassion

So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,

Here: 'He had pity / spared.' Pity that holds back from destroying. 'Did not spare' is a fixed phrase in Lamentations and Ezekiel for God's judgment on Jerusalem, and v.15 has just said God 'had compassion' (ḥāmal) on his people and his dwelling. Now that compassion is withdrawn.

Job 6:10 יַחְמ֑וֹל it relents

It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Here: 'He spares' or 'it spares'. The verb is masculine, so it does not formally match the feminine 'pain'. Many therefore take God as the subject ('he does not spare'). Others read 'unsparing pain' loosely. Either way the pain does not let up.

Job 16:13 יַחְמ֑וֹל he has compassion

His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

Job 20:13 יַחְמֹ֣ל he spares

though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth,

Job 27:22 יַחְמֹ֑ל he will show pity

It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.

Proverbs 6:34 יַ֝חְמ֗וֹל he will have compassion

For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

Isaiah 9:19 יַחְמֹֽלוּ׃ they spared

By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.

Isaiah 30:14 יַחְמֹ֑ל anyone will spare

It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”

Here: 'He will not pity/spare.' The one breaking holds nothing back and feels no reluctance. Many translations turn this into an adverb ('ruthlessly', 'mercilessly').

Jeremiah 13:14 אֶחְמ֧וֹל I will show pity

I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”

Here: 'I will not spare.' The verb means sparing something from loss because you value it, as the rich man in Nathan's parable 'spared' his own flock (2 Sam 12:4).

Jeremiah 15:5 יַחְמֹ֤ל will he have compassion

Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

Jeremiah 21:7 יַחְמֹ֖ל he will show pity

‘After that,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in this city who survive the plague and sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will not spare them or show pity or compassion.’

Here: To spare: to choose not to destroy something you could destroy, as Saul spared Agag (1 Sam 15:9). No one will be kept back.

Jeremiah 50:14 תַּחְמְל֖וּ you spare

Line up in formation around Babylon, all you who draw the bow! Shoot at her! Spare no arrows! For she has sinned against the LORD.

Here: 'Have pity / hold back'. This is a word of feeling, used for compassion that makes someone spare a person or thing. Here the archers must not even 'pity' their arrows by saving them. Shoot them all.

Jeremiah 51:3 תַּחְמְלוּ֙ you spare

Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction!

Lamentations 2:2 חָמַ֗ל he has spared

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

Here: To hold back from destroying out of compassion. 'He did not spare' is a refrain in this poem (2:2, 2:17, 2:21; 3:43), the language used of total destruction in war.

Lamentations 2:17 חָמָ֑ל he has spared

The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

Here: "He spared" (here negated: "he did not spare"). This is the compassion that holds back from destroying. The words recur through Lamentations 2 (vv. 2, 17, 21): nothing was held back.

Lamentations 2:21 חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ ס you have spared

Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.

Here: 'You have spared.' It means compassion that holds back a blow, and here it is negated: God did not hold back. The narrator twice said 'he has not spared' (2:2, 2:17). Zion now says it straight to God's face: 'you have not spared'.

Lamentations 3:43 חָמָֽלְתָּ׃ you have spared

You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us; You have killed without pity.

Ezekiel 5:11 אֶחְמֽוֹל׃ I will show pity

Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

Here: 'I will not spare': I will not hold back from destroying out of concern for the victim. Paired with ḥûs, it closes off every route to leniency.

Ezekiel 7:4 אֶחְמ֑וֹל I will show pity

I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

Here: 'I will (not) spare.' This verb is about holding back from destroying something you value. Now God is the subject in the first person, so the refusal is stated as his own decision.

Ezekiel 7:9 אֶחְמ֑וֹל I will show pity

I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the LORD, who strikes the blow.

Ezekiel 8:18 אֶחְמֹ֑ל I will show pity

Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

Here: 'I will (not) spare.' The verb means feeling compassion that holds back from destroying, so that the person is left alive or unharmed. Together with ḥûs it makes a set pair in Ezekiel (5:11; 7:4, 9; 9:5, 10).

Ezekiel 9:5 תַּחְמֹֽלוּ׃ you show pity

And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!

Here: 'And do not spare.' Ḥamal is the compassion that holds back from destroying something. It is the word for Saul 'sparing' Agag and the best livestock (1 Sam 15:9). Here it rules out any exemptions except the one already given to the marked.

Ezekiel 9:10 אֶחְמֹ֑ל I will show pity

But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”

Here: "I will (not) spare." It is the reluctance to destroy or let go of something you value, which then holds you back from doing it. Paired with the verb before it, the phrase means "no softening and no exemption."

Ezekiel 16:5 לְחֻמְלָ֣ה for compassion

No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.

Ezekiel 36:21 וָאֶחְמֹ֖ל and I showed pity

But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had gone.

Joel 2:18 וַיַּחְמֹ֖ל and he had compassion

Then the LORD became jealous for His land, and He spared His people.

Here: A feeling of compassion that leads to holding back destruction. It answers the priests' plea 'spare (chusah) your people' (2:17) with a near-synonym. God both feels for them and stops the ruin.

Habakkuk 1:17 יַחְמֽוֹל׃ ס will he spare?

Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?

Zechariah 11:5 יַחְמ֖וֹל he will have compassion

whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.

Here: 'Does not spare / has no pity'. Again a singular verb with a plural subject: not one shepherd spares them. Chamal is pity that holds back harm. The shepherds feel nothing that would make them protect the flock. God uses the same verb in verse 6: 'I will no longer have pity'.

Zechariah 11:6 אֶחְמ֥וֹל I will have compassion

For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”

Here: "I will spare", in the imperfect form that points to the future. It means the pity that holds back a blow, not just a feeling. It picks up v. 5, "their shepherds do not spare (yaḥmôl) them": the shepherds do not spare the flock, and now God will not either.

Malachi 3:17 וְחָמַלְתִּ֣י יַחְמֹ֣ל and I will have compassion, he has compassion

“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

Here: 'And I will spare': a compassion that holds back from destroying. With the burning day of 4:1 just ahead, it means these people are exempted from the destruction.