To fondle ; by implication, to love , especially to compassionate
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רָחַם (rāḥam) is a verb for loving, having compassion, showing mercy, or being shown compassion. It usually portrays compassion as an action or disposition directed toward someone, while negated forms describe compassion withheld in settings of judgment.
Reader summary
Full entry for רָחַם (H7355) · Open the biblical lexicon
רָחַם (rāḥam) is a verb for loving, having compassion, showing mercy, or being shown compassion. It usually portrays compassion as an action or disposition directed toward someone, while negated forms describe compassion withheld in settings of judgment.
The BSB source-word alignment has 47 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include compassion (5), . . . (2), and have compassion (2), and He will have compassion (2), and merciless (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 33:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (12), Jeremiah (10), Hosea (7), Psalms (5).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
רָחַם (rāḥam) is a verb for loving, having compassion, showing mercy, or being shown compassion. It usually portrays compassion as an action or disposition directed toward someone, while negated forms describe compassion withheld in settings of judgment. Psalm 18:1 uses the verb for the psalmist's love toward the Lord, showing that its range is not restricted to pity for weakness. Stem, subject, object, and polarity control the sense.
God is frequently the subject. Exodus 33:19 places compassion within God's self-declared freedom, while Deuteronomy, Kings, prophets, and psalms connect divine compassion with covenant remembrance, return, forgiveness, restoration, and parental care. Isaiah 49:15 explicitly compares God's remembrance with a nursing mother's compassion, and Psalm 103:13 uses a father's compassion. These contextual images support tender care without making womb imagery the definition of every H7355 occurrence.
Hosea uses the verb in the Lo-ruhamah and Ruhamah wordplay to stage judgment and renewed mercy. Jeremiah and Isaiah also contain statements that compassion will not be shown under judgment. Such texts testify to moral seriousness and historical catastrophe; they do not authorize caregivers, churches, or governments to imitate divine judgment by becoming cruel. Proverbs 28:13 joins mercy with confession and forsaking wrongdoing, but it must not be turned into a formula that denies protection or aid until a vulnerable person performs repentance to another's satisfaction.
Rāḥam functions as an active compassion verb, a love verb in Psalm 18:1, and a passive or negated mercy expression. Its canonical uses move through divine freedom, parental analogies, judgment, return, forgiveness, and restoration.
God declares freedom to show grace and compassion while revealing his glory to Moses.
Solomon prays that exiled people who repent will receive compassion from their captors.
God answers Zion's fear of being forgotten by comparing divine remembrance with a nursing mother's compassion and then surpassing the analogy.
A brief hiding in anger is contrasted with gathering compassion and enduring covenant love.
God's speech about Ephraim joins remembered relationship, inward yearning, and sure compassion.
The poem holds grief together with compassion according to the abundance of God's covenant love.
The naming of Lo-ruhamah announces a withdrawal of compassion within Hosea's enacted judgment sign.
The naming wordplay is reversed as God promises compassion and renewed covenant belonging.
The psalm opens with the speaker's declaration of love for the Lord, an uncommon use that broadens the verb beyond pity.
A father's compassion for children becomes an analogy for the Lord's compassion toward those who fear him.
The proverb contrasts concealing transgressions with confessing and forsaking them in relation to receiving mercy.
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. Physical tenderness toward the vulnerable grounds God's merciful love—compassion rooted in deep emotional attachment, not abstract duty.
Physical tenderness toward the vulnerable grounds God's merciful love—compassion rooted in deep emotional attachment, not abstract duty.
to fondle; by implication, to love, especially to compassionate BDB: love Usage: have compassion (on, upon), love, (find, have, obtain, shew) mercy(-iful, on, upon), (have) pity, Ruhamah, × surely.
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 7 selected witnesses from 47 lexical occurrence verses.
רָחַם is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Restoration flows from God’s compassionate character.Hosea 1:2-9
Reveals the depth of God’s covenant love.Hosea 11:8-11
Highlights the emotional depth of divine restoration.Hosea 14:1-3
Withdrawal of covenant compassion signals curse reversal.Isaiah 14:1-8
Central expression of covenant mercy.Isaiah 49:14-21
Ground of restoration.Isaiah 49:7-13
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Rāḥam traces compassion as action across judgment and restoration. Isaiah 49 and Psalm 103 use maternal and paternal analogies, refusing to restrict faithful care to one gendered image. Hosea makes the withdrawal and return of compassion part of a painful covenant sign, while Proverbs 28 joins mercy to honest change. Teachers should let these passages challenge both sentimental mercy that hides harm and harshness that imitates divine judgment without divine authority.
In pastoral practice, compassion can mean listening, material aid, safeguarding, truthful confrontation, medical or professional referral, and respect for boundaries. It does not require a harmed person to restore access or trust on demand.
Isa.49.15
H7355 is a verb, commonly in intensive active and passive stems. Negation changes the event, not the lexical identity. The verb's action should be distinguished from H7356's noun senses and H7349's adjective of compassionate character.
Romans 9 cites Exodus 33:19 in an argument about God's mercy. That direct citation deserves careful study in Romans and Exodus and should not be used to collapse every New Testament mercy term into H7355.