Hebrew word · H7401

רָכַךְ

rakh-

be tender

To be tender, soft, weak. Used of soft words (Psalm 55:21) and, with 'heart', of losing courage: to grow faint, melt, lose your nerve.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

1) to be tender, be soft, be weak

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to be tender, be weak (of heart)

1a1a) to be timid, be fearful

1a1b) to be softened, be penitent

1a2) to be soft (of treacherous words)

1b) (Pual) to be softened

1c) (Hiphil) to cause to be weak

1d) (Niphal) tender

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

Range of meaning: To be tender, soft, weak. Used of soft words (Psalm 55:21) and, with 'heart', of losing courage: to grow faint, melt, lose your nerve.
Against the English: KJV 'fainthearted', ESV 'let your heart be faint', NIV 'lose heart', BSB 'disheartened'. All are close. 'Soft' is the underlying picture.
Used elsewhere in the period: The exact phrase 'let not your heart be soft' (אַל־יֵרַךְ לְבַבְכֶם) appears in the priest's address to Israel's army before battle: 'let not your heart be faint; do not fear, do not panic, do not tremble before them' (Deuteronomy 20:3). Compare Jeremiah 51:46.

Range of meaning: The verb rakhakh means 'be soft, tender, weak'. Ointment softens a wound (Isa 1:6) and soft words 'soften' (Ps 55:21). With 'heart' it usually means a heart that gives way: that loses its nerve, goes faint or melts with fear (Deut 20:3, 8; Isa 7:4; Jer 51:46). The heart (levav) is the inner person: thinking, deciding and conscience, more than feeling.
Against the English: KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB and WEB have 'tender'. NIV has 'responsive', which catches the openness. NLT paraphrases it as remorse. 'Tender' is accurate but now suggests gentle compassion toward others, which is not the point here.
How it drifted: In modern English a 'tender heart' means a kind, sentimental, easily moved person. The Hebrew picture is a heart that yields instead of hardening. It is the opposite of the 'hardened' or 'stiff' heart found throughout the Bible (Pharaoh; Deut 10:16; 2 Chr 36:13, where Zedekiah 'hardened his heart'), and it carries the overtone of being shaken by dread.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 20:3, 8 (in the war law, 'faint-hearted' soldiers are sent home); Isa 7:4 (Ahaz is told 'do not let your heart be faint'); Job 23:16 ('God has made my heart faint', using the related verb). In the parallel 2 Kgs 22:19, the Greek of Kings is usually reported as rendering it with a verb meaning 'was softened'.

Range of meaning: The root r-k-k means to be soft, tender or weak. It is used of soft words (Ps 55:21; Prov 15:1 'a soft answer'), of delicate young children or animals (Gen 33:13), of wounds softened with oil (Isa 1:6), and of a heart that loses its nerve. Deuteronomy 20:8 sends home the man who is 'afraid and soft of heart' (rakh hallevav), meaning fainthearted. Job 23:16 says 'God has made my heart soft' (faint) in terror. Isaiah 7:4 tells Ahaz 'do not let your heart be soft' (do not lose your nerve). The opposite is the hard or heavy heart of Pharaoh, which will not yield.
Against the English: KJV, NASB, WEB and BSB have 'tender,' which today suggests compassion or emotional sensitivity. NIV's 'responsive' and ESV's 'penitent' read it as openness or repentance. Each rendering catches part of the word. None conveys the element of fear.
How it drifted: In modern English 'tender-hearted' means kind and sympathetic. That sense comes from later English usage and has nothing to do with the Hebrew idiom, which is about being yielding as opposed to stubborn, and is often colored by fear.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) uses a verb meaning 'was softened' (hapalynō). Jerome's Latin Vulgate, as best I can tell, has 'your heart was terrified' (perterritum est cor tuum), so it took the word in its fear sense. The parallel in 2 Chronicles 34:27 keeps the Hebrew phrase.

Deuteronomy · 1

Deuteronomy 20:3 יֵרַ֣ךְ be timid

saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.

Here: 'Let it not go soft.' The heart, the seat of resolve, is pictured melting or giving way like something limp. The same idiom marks the men sent home in verse 8.

2 Kings · 1

2 Kings 22:19 רַךְ־ it was soft

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

Here: 'Was soft.' The heart gave way instead of setting hard. The same root describes a fearful, fainting heart (Deut 20:8), so the softness includes being shaken by fear, not only being open to hearing.

2 Chronicles · 1

2 Chronicles 34:27 רַךְ־ it was soft

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

Here: 'Was soft.' The heart gave way under the words of the scroll instead of resisting them. The same verb is used elsewhere for a heart that goes faint with fear, so it suggests being shaken as well as being receptive.

Job · 1

Job 23:16 הֵרַ֣ךְ he has made faint

God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 55:21 רַכּ֖וּ they were soft

His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

Here: 'They were soft.' The same verb is used for wounds 'softened with oil' in Isaiah 1:6. The words feel soothing and healing.

Isaiah · 2

Isaiah 1:6 רֻכְּכָ֖ה it has been softened

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

Here: 'It has not been softened.' The verb is feminine singular, so its subject is probably the 'fresh blow' (makkah). Oil softened hardened, inflamed tissue and eased pain.
Isaiah 7:4 יֵרַ֔ךְ it be weak

and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

Here: 'Let it not go soft': do not lose your nerve or melt. The same phrase appears in the priest's speech to the army before battle (Deuteronomy 20:3).

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 51:46 יֵרַ֤ךְ it should be weak

Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not be afraid when the rumor is heard in the land; for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.

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