תַּנְחוּם

From the study of Psalm 94:19

Range of meaning

Consolations, comforts. A noun from the verb nḥm (piel 'to comfort, console'), always plural in the Hebrew Bible. It covers the words, presence and practical help that bring someone out of grief or distress. The verb is used of friends and family who come to comfort mourners (Gen 37:35; Job 2:11). The same root in other forms means 'to relent, change one's mind', and some lexicons (BDB) suggest an older root sense of 'sighing / breathing deeply'; that etymology is uncertain and should not be pressed.

Against the English

KJV 'thy comforts' now risks sounding like amenities or cosiness ('creature comforts'). 'Consolations' (BSB, ESV, NASB) keeps the sense of comfort given to someone in pain. NIV/BSB singular 'consolation' flattens the plural, which matches the plural anxieties.

How it drifted

English 'comforts' (plural) shifted from 'acts of strengthening and consoling' toward 'things that make life pleasant and easy', especially from the 18th century onward.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 15:11 ('Are the consolations of God too small for you?'); Job 21:2; Isa 66:11 (Jerusalem's 'consoling breasts' that nurse her children); Jer 16:7 ('cup of consolation' given to mourners). LXX here: paraklēseis, the same word family Paul uses for comfort (2 Cor 1:3–7). In later Judaism, tanḥûmîm became a heading for prophecies of comfort.

From the study of Isaiah 66:11

Range of meaning

Consolation or comfort. It comes from the root n-ḥ-m, whose core idea in the comforting sense is easing grief: bringing someone through mourning to a changed state. Comforters in Israel came to sit with mourners (Gen 37:35; Job 2:11). Real consolation meant the loss was answered, not just that someone felt sorry.

Against the English

"Comforting breasts" (BSB, NIV, WEB) and "consoling breast" (ESV) are accurate, but "comforting" can sound like a description of how the breast feels. In Hebrew it is a noun: these are breasts of her consolations, breasts that give out consolation the way they give milk.

How it drifted

Modern "comfort" often means ease or coziness. The Hebrew word is tied to grief and to the end of mourning.

Used elsewhere in the period

The root frames the second half of Isaiah: "Comfort, comfort my people" (40:1); "the LORD has comforted his people" (49:13; 52:9); "comfort all who mourn" (61:2). Lamentations, written over fallen Jerusalem, repeats "she has no one to comfort her" (Lam 1:2, 9, 16, 17, 21). The noun tanḥumîm also appears in Isa 66:11, Jer 16:7 ("the cup of consolation" given to mourners), Job 15:11, 21:2, and Ps 94:19.