רַחֲמִים

Genesis 43:14 רַחֲמִים֙ compassion<s>

May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

Here: A plural noun related to rehem, 'womb': deep, gut-level compassion, the feeling a parent has for a child. Here it is something God puts into another person's heart toward the brothers.

Genesis 43:30 רַחֲמָיו֙ compassion<s> his

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

Here: Literally 'his inward parts', from the word for 'womb'. This is the gut-deep love of close kin, the bodily seat of tenderness. It is not pity for someone in trouble.

Genesis 49:25 וָרָֽחַם׃ and womb

by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

Here: The womb, so conception and birth, in both humans and livestock. Breasts and womb together cover the whole cycle of new life, from conceiving to nursing. The same root gives the Hebrew word for compassion (rachamim), which is womb-love.

Deuteronomy 13:17 רַחֲמִים֙ compassion<s>

Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,

Here: 'Compassions.' The plural expresses fullness of tender feeling. The phrase 'give compassion' can also mean 'make you find compassion' (see debates).

Judges 5:30 רַ֤חַם רַחֲמָתַ֙יִם֙ a womb, two wombs

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’

2 Samuel 24:14 רַֽחֲמָ֔יו compassion<s> his

David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

Here: Deep, gut-level compassion, the kind a parent feels for a child. The word is linked to reḥem, “womb.” The plural suggests compassion that is abundant and comes again and again.

1 Kings 3:26 רַחֲמֶיהָ֮ compassion<s> her

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!”

1 Kings 8:50 לְרַחֲמִ֛ים into [objects of] compassion

May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy.

Here: "Into compassion," meaning objects of pity. The word is plural, which intensifies it, and it is related to the word for womb. Gut-deep tenderness of the kind a mother has is asked for, and it is to come from the enemy.

1 Chronicles 21:13 רַחֲמָיו֙ compassion<s> his

David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

Here: Deep, felt compassion, a word related to the noun for "womb." It is pity that is felt in the gut and moves someone to act for the sufferer. It does not mean simply cancelling a sentence.

2 Chronicles 30:9 לְרַחֲמִים֙ to compassion<s>

For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

Here: 'For compassion': there is no verb. The idiom ('[become] objects of compassion') is borrowed from Solomon's prayer (1 Kgs 8:50). The captors themselves will be moved to pity them.

Nehemiah 1:11 לְרַחֲמִ֔ים <to> compassion<s>

O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

Here: 'For compassion': he asks God to make him an object of the king's kindly, sympathetic feeling. The plural form intensifies the idea of deep, warm feeling.

Nehemiah 9:19 בְּרַחֲמֶ֣יךָ in compassion<s> your

You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

Here: 'In/by your compassions': the plural noun for tender, deep-felt pity, linked to the word for 'womb'. The preposition gives both the manner and the reason for God's action: compassion is why he did not leave.

Nehemiah 9:27 וּֽכְרַחֲמֶ֣יךָ and according to compassion<s> your

So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies.

Here: "And according to your compassions": the word is related to the word for 'womb' and names deep, gut-level tenderness. The plural adds intensity. God's response is measured by his compassion, not by what Israel deserved.

Nehemiah 9:28 כְּֽרַחֲמֶ֖יךָ according to compassion<s> your

But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion.

Nehemiah 9:31 וּֽבְרַחֲמֶ֧יךָ and in compassion<s> your

But in Your great compassion, You did not put an end to them; nor did You forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God.

Here: 'And' here works as 'but' or 'yet', turning away from the judgment just described in v. 30. 'In' gives the circumstance and the means: God's deep, felt compassion is what held back the end. The noun is plural ('compassions'), a regular Hebrew way of stressing how intense and how many-sided a feeling is.

Psalm 25:6 רַחֲמֶ֣יךָ compassion<s> your

Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and loving devotion, for they are from age to age.

Here: 'Your compassions.' The word is plural and is related to *rechem*, 'womb.' It names the deep, gut-level tenderness a parent feels toward a child in need. The plural stresses how full this feeling is, and possibly its many expressions.

Psalm 40:11 רַחֲמֶ֣יךָ compassion<s> your

O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

Here: 'Your compassions', plural. The word is built on rechem, 'womb', and names the gut-deep, protective feeling of a parent for a child. The psalmist asks God not to keep that feeling shut in.

Psalm 51:1 רַ֝חֲמֶ֗יךָ compassion<s> your

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Here: 'Your compassions'. The plural noun shares a root with the word for 'womb' (reḥem). It names the deep, physical tenderness of a parent for a child, here felt by God and multiplied.

Psalm 69:16 רַ֝חֲמֶ֗יךָ compassion<s> your

Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving devotion is good; turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.

Here: 'Your compassions' (a plural form, here meaning compassion that is deep and shown many times over). It is the visceral, protective tenderness of a parent for a child (Ps 103:13). The word is related to reḥem, 'womb'.

Psalm 77:9 רַחֲמָ֥יו compassion<s> his

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah

Psalm 79:8 רַחֲמֶ֑יךָ compassion<s> your

Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.

Here: "Your compassions": a deep, bodily kind of pity, from the same root as the word for "womb". Because it is plural, it acts as the subject of the plural verb before it, as if many mercies were coming out to meet the people.

Psalm 103:4 וְרַחֲמִֽים׃ and compassion<s>

who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,

Here: "And compassion": a plural word related to rechem, "womb". It names a deep, gut-level tenderness, the feeling of a parent for a child (compare v. 13). Paired with chesed it means loyalty that is also felt.

Psalm 106:46 לְרַחֲמִ֑ים into compassion<s>

He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive.

Here: "Into compassions." The word is plural, as it usually is in Hebrew, and the plural signals strength or fullness: deep, gut-level tenderness. The compassion here belongs to the captors. God makes Israel the kind of people their captors are moved to feel for and treat kindly.

Psalm 119:77 רַחֲמֶ֣יךָ compassion<s> your

May Your compassion come to me, that I may live, for Your law is my delight.

Here: "Your compassions": the warm, gut-deep tenderness of someone bound to you, the word family used for a mother's feeling for her child. The plural expresses fullness and repeated acts of compassion. It is God's own compassion ("your") that is asked for.

Psalm 119:156 רַחֲמֶ֖יךָ compassion<s> your

Great are Your mercies, O LORD; revive me according to Your ordinances.

Psalm 145:9 וְ֝רַחֲמָ֗יו and compassion<s> his

The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.

Here: 'And his compassions.' The plural stresses how deep and full the feeling is. The word comes from the same root as 'womb' (reḥem) and names the deep, protective tenderness a parent feels for a child. It picks up the adjective 'compassionate' (raḥûm) in verse 8.

Proverbs 12:10 וְֽרַחֲמֵ֥י and [the] compassion<s> of

A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.

Here: 'And the compassion of'. The word is related to rechem, 'womb', and names a gut-deep, protective tenderness. The plural expresses feeling at full strength. The phrase 'and the compassion of the wicked' sets up a bitter irony.

Proverbs 30:16 רָ֥חַם a womb

Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’

Isaiah 46:3 רָֽחַם׃ [the] womb

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

Here: Womb. It comes from the same root as raḥamim, 'compassion' (literally 'womb-feeling'). A Hebrew ear could catch that echo, but the word itself here simply means womb.

Isaiah 47:6 רַחֲמִ֔ים compassion<s>

I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

Here: 'Compassion.' The word is plural, which signals depth and intensity, and it is related to the word for womb (reḥem). It names gut-level, protective tenderness toward someone helpless. That is exactly what the conqueror withheld.

Isaiah 54:7 וּבְרַחֲמִ֥ים and in compassion<s>

“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.

Here: "And with compassion." The word is plural, which adds intensity: an abundance of tender, gut-deep feeling. It comes from the same root as the Hebrew word for womb (reḥem). The verb from this root closes v. 8 ("I will have compassion on you").

Isaiah 63:7 כְּֽרַחֲמָ֖יו according to compassion<s> his

I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.

Here: 'According to his compassions': the deep, almost bodily tenderness of close kin (the root is related to the word for 'womb'). God's dealings were measured by this, not by what Israel deserved. Verse 15 later complains that this very compassion is now being held back.

Isaiah 63:15 וְֽרַחֲמֶ֖יךָ and compassion<s> your

Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.

Here: 'And your compassion.' A plural of intensity, meaning deep, tender, family-bound pity. It is related to the word for 'womb'. Paired with 'innards', it is visceral love rather than a legal decision to pardon.

Jeremiah 16:5 הָֽרַחֲמִֽים׃ <the> compassion<s>

Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 42:12 רַחֲמִ֖ים compassion<s>

And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.’

Lamentations 3:22 רַחֲמָֽיו׃ compassion<s> his

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

Here: 'His compassions.' This is deep, felt tenderness. The word is related to reḥem, 'womb', and is used for the feeling a parent has for a child. It comes last, so the line ends on God's gut-level pity.

Ezekiel 20:26 רָ֑חַם a womb

And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.

Here: 'Opener of the womb' means the first child a mother bears. The word also belongs to the family of words for compassion (raḥamim). That gives the image a grim edge: what came from the womb was handed to the fire.

Daniel 1:9 וּֽלְרַחֲמִ֑ים and <to> compassion<s>

Now God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official,

Here: 'And into compassion'. A plural of intensity ('deep pity'), the feeling of a stronger party moved toward a weaker one. Paired with chesed, it covers both the warm feeling and the kind treatment.

Daniel 9:9 הָרַחֲמִ֖ים <the> compassion<s>

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him

Here: This is the plural of the word for 'womb'. It means tender, deeply felt compassion, the pity a parent feels for a helpless child. The word 'the' and the plural present it as compassion in its fullness, which belongs to God.

Daniel 9:18 רַחֲמֶ֥יךָ compassion<s> your

Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

Here: 'Your compassions.' It is related to the word for 'womb' and means the gut-deep tenderness of a parent or close kin. The plural expresses intensity and abundance.

Hosea 2:19 וּֽבְרַחֲמִֽים׃ and in compassion<s>

So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.

Here: "And with tender compassion." The word is related to reḥem, 'womb', and suggests deep, visceral, parent-like feeling. It reverses the name of Hosea's daughter Lo-Ruhamah, 'Not-Pitied' (1:6). The plural makes it stronger: abundant compassion.

Amos 1:11 רַחֲמָ֔יו compassion<s> his

This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

Here: 'His compassions'. The word comes from the same root as 'womb' (reḥem) and names the gut-level tenderness owed to one's own flesh and blood, and perhaps the amity owed under a treaty.

Zechariah 1:16 בְּֽרַחֲמִ֔ים with compassion<s>

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

Here: 'With compassions.' A plural of intensity from the word for 'womb': deep, gut-level tenderness. It directly answers the angel's complaint in 1:12, 'How long will you not have compassion (təraḥēm) on Jerusalem?'

Zechariah 7:9 וְרַֽחֲמִ֔ים and compassion<s>

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.

Here: Deep, gut-level compassion. The word is linked to rechem, 'womb'. The plural strengthens the idea, 'tender mercies', and it is paired with chesed so that feeling goes together with loyalty.