Compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden
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רַחֲמִים (the plural form of רַחַם) names the tender-mercy dimension of God's compassion, the inward mercy Scripture can describe with womb-rooted imagery. The womb-root is the theological anchor: just as a mother's love for her newborn is one of Scripture's strongest images of embodied care, YHWH's רַחֲמִים toward His people has that quality.
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Full entry for רַחַם (H7356) · Open the biblical lexicon
רַחֲמִים (the plural form of רַחַם) names the tender-mercy dimension of God's compassion, the inward mercy Scripture can describe with womb-rooted imagery. The womb-root is the theological anchor: just as a mother's love for her newborn is one of Scripture's strongest images of embodied care, YHWH's רַחֲמִים toward His people has that quality.
The BSB source-word alignment has 45 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include compassion (9), and compassion (5), mercy (4), . . . (2), His compassion (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 43:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (11), Isaiah (5), Nehemiah (5), Daniel (3).
רַחֲמִים (the plural form of רַחַם) names the tender-mercy dimension of God's compassion, the inward mercy Scripture can describe with womb-rooted imagery. The womb-root is the theological anchor: just as a mother's love for her newborn is one of Scripture's strongest images of embodied care, YHWH's רַחֲמִים toward His people has that quality. Lam 3:22 — 'the steadfast love (חֶסֶד) of the Lord never ceases; his mercies (רַחֲמִים) never come to an end; they are new every morning' — places חֶסֶד and רַחֲמִים side by side as the two inseparable qualities of YHWH that survive the destruction of Jerusalem.
Where חֶסֶד is the covenant-faithfulness dimension, רַחֲמִים is the tenderness dimension. The morning renewal imagery is important: YHWH's compassion is not depleted by the night's sorrow; it is replenished with each new day.
The local Hebrew index currently counts about 45 occurrences for H7356; the related verb H7355 is a nearby compassion term. Key theological uses span the Pentateuch's divine mercy declarations (Exod 33:19 via the verb), the prophets (Isa 47:6; 63:15; Jer 42:12), and Lamentations' survival-theology.
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.
The lament appeal to YHWH's רַחֲמִים. The people call not to His power but to His inner stirring — the visceral quality of His compassion. 'Held back' is the theological scandal: not that YHWH lacks רַחֲמִים but that in this moment of judgment they feel withheld. The cry itself is grounded in knowing those compassions exist.
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.”
Jacob's prayer uses רַחֲמִים as what he needs God to grant from one human (the Egyptian official, actually Joseph) toward another. The word transfers: the same visceral compassion of a parent can be sought from any person in a position of power. Prayer for God to move someone's רַחֲמִים is an appeal to the God who puts this quality in human hearts.
And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own land.’
YHWH pledging His רַחֲמִים toward the remnant who fear going to Egypt. The promise is both direct (I will be merciful to you) and mediated (through the Babylonian king's response). Divine רַחֲמִים operates through human agents without being reduced to them.
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.
Babylon's sin was the absence of רַחֲמִים — they executed YHWH's judgment without the compassion that should have tempered it. Even instruments of divine discipline are accountable for mercy. The absence of רַחֲמִים toward the vulnerable is itself an indictment.
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.
Hebrew word. Compassion as visceral, physical sensation rooted in the womb—God's mercy is embodied tenderness, not abstract.
Compassion as visceral, physical sensation rooted in the womb—God's mercy is embodied tenderness, not abstract.
compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden BDB: womb Usage: bowels, compassion, damsel, tender love, (great, tender) mercy, pity, womb.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 45 lexical occurrence verses.
רַחַם is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The womb-root makes רַחֲמִים un-abstract. When the OT says YHWH's mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22-23), it is not describing a policy refresh — it is describing a God whose compassion has the quality of a mother who, no matter what the previous day held, wakes to find her love for her child as full as it ever was. The morning replenishment is a picture of the inexhaustible origin of that love.
This is what makes Lamentations' survival in catastrophe possible: the city is destroyed, the temple is gone, and the one thing Jeremiah can say is: His compassions do not end.
Isa.63.15
The plural רַחֲמִים is the standard form in the OT — compassion is expressed as a plural, perhaps because tender mercies are multiple and various, or because the intensity of the feeling exceeds what a singular noun can hold. Isa 49:15 makes the womb-connection explicit by placing רַחֵם (verb) and רֶחֶם (womb) in the same verse as a deliberate echo. The English 'womb' and 'compassion' share no etymological link; the Hebrew insists they do.
Exod 34:6's self-declaration of YHWH includes רַחוּם (adjective, compassionate) from the same root — built into the divine name-declaration.
2 Cor 1:3 — 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies (οἰκτιρμῶν) and God of all comfort' — is the NT's direct appropriation of the plural רַחֲמִים tradition, now predicated of God the Father through Christ. Jas 5:11 — 'the Lord is compassionate and merciful (πολύσπλαγχνος καὶ οἰκτίρμων)' — uses the same OT root vocabulary to describe YHWH's character.
The visceral compassion of the OT's רַחֲמִים arrives in the NT in the person of Jesus, whose σπλαγχνίζομαι (G4697) in the Gospels enacts precisely this quality.
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