Properly, to sigh , i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry , i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity , console or (reflexively) rue ; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself)
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נָחַם (nāḥam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes comforting or consoling and, in other forms and settings, being sorry, regretting, or relenting. Genesis 24:67 says Isaac was comforted after his mother's death, Genesis 50:21 describes Joseph comforting his brothers, and Isaiah 40:1 commands comfort for God's people.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָחַם (H5162) · Open the biblical lexicon
נָחַם (nāḥam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes comforting or consoling and, in other forms and settings, being sorry, regretting, or relenting. Genesis 24:67 says Isaac was comforted after his mother's death, Genesis 50:21 describes Joseph comforting his brothers, and Isaiah 40:1 commands comfort for God's people.
The BSB source-word alignment has 108 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include relented (5), Comfort (4), comforters (4), and relent (3), relent (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 5:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (17), Jeremiah (14), Psalms (12), Genesis (9).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
נָחַם (nāḥam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes comforting or consoling and, in other forms and settings, being sorry, regretting, or relenting. Genesis 24:67 says Isaac was comforted after his mother's death, Genesis 50:21 describes Joseph comforting his brothers, and Isaiah 40:1 commands comfort for God's people. Exodus 32:14, by contrast, uses the verb when the Lord relents from announced disaster after Moses intercedes. These senses belong to the same lexical identity, but interpreters should not force them into one emotional definition.
The divine uses require close attention to each passage. Genesis 6:6 speaks of the Lord regretting that he had made humanity and being grieved to his heart. Exodus 32:14 presents his relenting in response to covenant-grounded intercession. Jeremiah 18:8 places relenting from announced disaster within an explicit account of a nation turning from evil, and Jonah 3:10 narrates that pattern when Nineveh turns from its way. The verb presents God's judgment and mercy as genuinely responsive in the narrative without authorizing claims that God was ignorant, mistaken, or morally unstable.
First Samuel 15 deliberately keeps a difficult tension before the reader. The Lord regrets making Saul king in verses 11 and 35, while verse 29 says Israel's Glory is not a human being who regrets or changes purpose as people do. The chapter does not permit either statement to erase the other. Numbers 23:19 likewise distinguishes God's truthfulness and constancy from human unreliability. A responsible account therefore preserves both divine responsiveness and divine faithfulness rather than resolving the range with a slogan.
Nāḥam appears in contexts of human consolation, divine comfort, grief or regret, and relenting from announced judgment. Its meaning is not selected by an English gloss alone; grammatical form and narrative context are decisive.
Isaac is comforted after the death of his mother, showing consolation within personal bereavement.
Joseph reassures and comforts his fearful brothers while promising to provide for them.
After Moses' covenant-grounded intercession, the Lord relents from the announced disaster against Israel.
The repeated command to comfort God's people opens an announcement of restoration after judgment and exile.
Within the potter passage, God says he may relent from announced disaster when a nation turns from evil.
God sees Nineveh turn from evil and relents from the disaster he had announced.
God regrets making Saul king because Saul has turned away and rejected his command.
Samuel says Israel's Glory does not lie or regret like a human, guarding divine constancy within the same chapter.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Deep emotional reversal: from sorrow/regret to compassionate action, or from anger to retribution.
Deep emotional reversal: from sorrow/regret to compassionate action, or from anger to retribution.
properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself) BDB: be sorry Usage: comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 108 lexical occurrence verses.
נָחַם is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Comfort signals the reversal of wrath and restoration of relationship.Isaiah 12:1-6
Signals the shift from judgment to restoration.Isaiah 40:1-11
Expresses God’s restorative mercy toward Zion.Isaiah 51:1-3
Expresses personal covenant mercy from God.Isaiah 51:9-16
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Nāḥam gives teachers language for comfort that takes grief seriously and for divine relenting that takes both warning and mercy seriously. Isaac's bereavement is not denied when he is comforted, Joseph's brothers still face their fear and guilt when he speaks to their hearts, and Isaiah's exiles receive comfort after real judgment. In passages about God, the verb should be taught with the whole immediate context.
Moses appeals to God's covenant promises, Nineveh turns from evil, and Jeremiah describes announced judgment in relation to a nation's response. First Samuel 15 then refuses a simplistic account by affirming both God's regret over Saul and his difference from unreliable humanity. The safest sermon preserves these textual contours. It does not promise that present sorrow will disappear quickly, claim that intercession manipulates God, or use divine relenting as proof of ignorance or error.
Isa.40.1
The lexical range varies with stem and context. Comfort or consolation and regret or relenting are attested senses, but they should not be explained as two automatic expressions of one inner state.
The New Testament's teaching about consolation, repentance, prayer, judgment, and God's faithfulness can extend these themes. Such connections are canonical synthesis, not evidence that one New Testament term reproduces every sense of H5162.