Hebrew word · H3648

כָּמַר

nikhmeru

to grow warm

To be hot, to grow warm. In the passive form it means to be stirred, to burn or yearn with an overwhelming inner feeling. It is used of skin hot with fever and hunger, and of compassion welling up.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to yearn, be kindled, be black (hot), grow warm and tender, be or grow hot, become hot, become emotionally agitated

1a) (Niphal)

1a1) to grow warm and tender

1a2) to be or grow hot

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Hosea 11:8

Range of meaning

To be hot, to grow warm. In the passive form it means to be stirred, to burn or yearn with an overwhelming inner feeling. It is used of skin hot with fever and hunger, and of compassion welling up.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'kindled'. NASB has 'kindled'. WEB and NIV have 'aroused', BSB 'stirred', ESV 'grows warm and tender', NLT 'overflows'. 'Kindled' keeps the image of heat. 'Stirred' and 'aroused' keep the motion but lose the heat. ESV keeps both heat and tenderness.

Used elsewhere in the period

It occurs only four times. Gen 43:30: Joseph 'hurried out, for his compassion grew hot (nikhmeru raḥamav) toward his brother', and he wept. 1 Kgs 3:26: the real mother, 'because her compassion grew hot (nikhmeru raḥameha) for her son', gives up her claim so the baby may live. Lam 5:10: 'our skin is hot like an oven' from famine.

From the study of Genesis 43:30

Range of meaning

Found only in the passive-reflexive (niphal) stem and only four times in the Hebrew Bible. It means 'to grow hot, be kindled, be stirred up'. It is used of inner organs heating with emotion and once of skin burning with fever.

Against the English

KJV 'did yearn', WEB 'yearned', YLT 'have been moved', ESV 'grew warm', NASB 'deeply stirred'. 'Yearn' brings in longing, which fits the context, but the Hebrew picture is heat, not longing as such.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 43:30; 1 Kings 3:26 (the mother's raḥamim for her child); Hosea 11:8 (God of Ephraim: 'my compassions grow hot together'); Lamentations 5:10 ('our skin is hot like an oven' from famine fever). HALOT and BDB both give 'grow warm/hot'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 43:30 נִכְמְר֤וּ they grew warm

    Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep.

    Here: A rare physical verb: his insides 'grew hot' or 'were kindled'. The form is passive-reflexive and plural, agreeing with 'his raḥamim'. The feeling happens to him and rises in him. He does not choose it.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 3:26 נִכְמְר֣וּ they had grown warm

    Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 5:10 נִכְמָ֔רוּ they have grown hot

    Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 11:8 נִכְמְר֥וּ they have grown warm

    How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!

    Here: 'Have grown hot'. Elsewhere the verb describes Joseph unable to hold back tears for his brother (Gen 43:30) and the true mother before Solomon, burning for her baby (1 Kgs 3:26). It is a parent's helpless, physical surge of tenderness.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.