Word studies · Hebrew · Strong's H7356
רַחַם · racham · appears 45 times in the Old Testament
In one line: Womb-deep tenderness that moves you to act.
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.
Isaiah 54:7
Rachamim is compassion — gut-level mercy, from the word for womb, the tenderness a mother feels for her child.
Rachamim describes God's tender mercies toward His people, the compassion of a father for his children, and the pity a stranger might be shown. It is regularly paired with chesed, so Israel's confidence rests on loyal love and visceral compassion together.
Rachamim is the plural of racham, closely related to rechem, “womb.” Hebrew locates compassion in the body — in the organ that carries life — so the word means something nearer to a physical ache for someone than a decision to be kind.
English “mercy” sounds judicial, something a superior grants. The Hebrew is maternal, which is why God's compassion is compared to a mother's and declared even more reliable: “can a woman forget her nursing child?... even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”
Rachamim (H7356) appears 39 times in the Hebrew Bible, and shares its root with rechem, the Hebrew word for womb.
Compassion belongs to God's self-description at Sinai — “merciful and gracious, slow to anger” — where rachum stands first in the list. That places tenderness at the front of what God says He is like, before power or judgment.
Let compassion move you physically this week — go, visit, cook, sit. The Hebrew word does not stay in the chest, and Scripture's compassionate people are always going somewhere.
compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden
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.”
Genesis 43:14Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
Deuteronomy 13:17‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil—a girl or two for each warrior, a plunder of dyed garments for Sisera, the spoil of embroidered garments for the neck of the looter?’
Judges 5:30David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
2 Samuel 24:14Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
1 Kings 3:26David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”
1 Chronicles 21:13Press and hold compassion in any chapter and this study opens on the verse you are reading, with the lexicons, every occurrence and the commentaries beside it. The Bible is free to read.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Strong's definitions are public domain. Counts come from The Pillar's own tagged text.