What does רַחַם (raḥam) mean in the Bible?
רַחַם (raḥam), often appearing in the plural רַחֲמִים (raḥamim), can name compassion, mercies, or the physical womb. Genesis 49 and Proverbs 30 use the anatomical sense.
Hebrew · H7356
רַחַם
Compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden
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רַחַם H7356
Pronunciation raḥam
What does רַחַם (raḥam) mean in the Bible?
רַחַם (raḥam), often appearing in the plural רַחֲמִים (raḥamim), can name compassion, mercies, or the physical womb. Genesis 49 and Proverbs 30 use the anatomical sense.
Reader summary
Full entry for רַחַם (H7356) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H7356?
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).
Where does רַחַם (raḥam) appear in Scripture?
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).
What This Word Actually Means
רַחַם (raḥam), often appearing in the plural רַחֲמִים (raḥamim), can name compassion, mercies, or the physical womb. Genesis 49 and Proverbs 30 use the anatomical sense. Genesis 43 and 1 Kings 3 describe intense human feeling, while prayers and laments appeal to God's compassion. The lexical relation among womb and compassion senses is real, but interpreters must first identify which sense the sentence actually uses.
Lamentations 3:22 confesses that the Lord's compassions do not end amid Jerusalem's devastation. Isaiah 63 asks where God's compassion seems restrained, and Daniel 9 appeals to abundant mercies rather than communal righteousness. Other texts demand human compassion: Zechariah 7:9 commands compassion, Proverbs 12:10 contrasts righteous care with cruel mercy, and Isaiah 47 condemns Babylon for showing no compassion to the elderly. The noun can therefore describe divine mercy, human tenderness, desired treatment, or culpable absence.
Literal-womb passages require particular care. They concern fertility, pregnancy, birth, maternal attachment, barrenness, or, in Judges 5:30, dehumanizing war-spoil speech about captured women. These texts do not define womanhood by pregnancy, shame infertility or pregnancy loss, or turn reproductive bodies into theological symbols without consent. The word family can enrich images of compassion, but no root claim should erase anatomy, trauma, agency, or the passage's moral setting.
Lexical sourceCanonical synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
H7356 joins a concrete womb sense with plural and figurative uses for compassion or mercies. The noun occurs in family scenes, war and judgment texts, prayer, lament, wisdom, and appeals for ethical care.
- Gen.43.30
Joseph's compassion is stirred toward Benjamin before he withdraws to weep privately.
- Gen.49.25
Jacob's blessing speaks of blessings of breast and womb in a fertility and family-continuity setting.
- Judg.5.30
Sisera's household imagines captive women as war spoil, using womb language in speech that exposes violent dehumanization.
- 1Kings.3.26
The living child's mother is moved by compassion and asks that the child be spared, revealing her identity to Solomon.
- Isa.47.6
Babylon is condemned for showing no compassion and placing a heavy yoke even on elderly people.
- Isa.63.15
The communal lament asks where God's zeal, might, yearning, and compassion appear to be withheld.
- Lam.3.22
Within catastrophe, the poet confesses that the Lord's covenant love and compassions have not ended.
- Dan.9.18
Daniel bases his plea not on communal righteousness but on God's abundant compassion.
- Zech.7.9
The prophetic instruction joins true justice, covenant love, and compassion toward one another.
- Ps.51.1
The penitential prayer asks for transgressions to be blotted out according to God's abundant compassion.
- Prov.12.10
The proverb contrasts a righteous person's care for an animal with the cruelty found even in wicked claims of mercy.
- Prov.30.16
The barren womb appears among things that do not say enough, within a numerical saying about unfulfilled appetite.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It compassion 9× 1 Kings 8:50, Nehemiah 9:19, Nehemiah 9:27, Nehemiah 9:31
and compassion 5× Psalms 103:4, Isaiah 63:15, Daniel 1:9, Hosea 2:19
mercy 4× Genesis 43:14, Deuteronomy 13:17, Nehemiah 1:11, Isaiah 47:6
. . . 2× Genesis 43:30, Ezekiel 20:26
His compassion 2× Psalms 77:9, Psalms 145:9
His mercies [are] 2× 2 Samuel 24:14, 1 Chronicles 21:13
[belong] compassion 1× Daniel 9:9
[or] two 1× Judges 5:30
a girl 1× Judges 5:30
according to His great compassion 1× Isaiah 63:7
all compassion 1× Amos 1:11
and womb 1× Genesis 49:25
are Your mercies 1× Psalms 119:156
birth 1× Isaiah 46:3
but the tender mercies 1× Proverbs 12:10
His mercies 1× Lamentations 3:22
in Your compassion 1× Nehemiah 9:28
let Your compassion 1× Psalms 79:8
May Your compassion 1× Psalms 119:77
My compassion 1× Jeremiah 16:5
objects of compassion 1× Psalms 106:46
will receive mercy 1× 2 Chronicles 30:9
with compassion 1× 1 Kings 3:26
with mercy 1× Zechariah 1:16
womb 1× Proverbs 30:16
Your compassion 1× Psalms 25:6
Your mercy 1× Psalms 40:11
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 43:14 רַחֲמִים֙ to mercy Noun - masculine plural Genesis 43:30 רַחֲמָיו֙ to . . . Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular Genesis 49:25 וָרָֽחַם׃ to and womb Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular Deuteronomy 13:17 רַחֲמִים֙ to mercy Noun - masculine plural Judges 5:30 רַ֤חַם to a girl Noun - feminine singular Judges 5:30 רַחֲמָתַ֙יִם֙ to [or] two Noun - fd 2 Samuel 24:14 רַחֲמוֹ to His mercies [are] Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular 1 Kings 3:26 רַחֲמֶיהָ֮ to with compassion Noun - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular 1 Kings 8:50 לְרַחֲמִ֛ים to compassion Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural 1 Chronicles 21:13 רַחֲמָיו֙ to His mercies [are] Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Genesis 43:14
Aligned rows 45
Books represented 18
Genesis 3 Deuteronomy 1 Judges 2 2 Samuel 1 1 Kings 2 1 Chronicles 1 2 Chronicles 1 Nehemiah 5 Psalms 11 Proverbs 2 Isaiah 5 Jeremiah 2 Lamentations 1 Ezekiel 1 Daniel 3 Hosea 1 Amos 1 Zechariah 2
Source forms
רַחֲמֶ֣יךָ 3x ra·ḥă·me·ḵā Psalms 25:6, Psalms 40:11, Psalms 119:77
רַחֲמָיו֙ 2x ra·ḥă·māw Genesis 43:30, 1 Chronicles 21:13
רַ֝חֲמֶ֗יךָ 2x ra·ḥă·me·ḵā Psalms 51:1, Psalms 69:16
רַחֲמִים֙ 2x ra·ḥă·mîm Genesis 43:14, Deuteronomy 13:17
בְּרַחֲמֶ֣יךָ 1x bə·ra·ḥă·me·ḵā Nehemiah 9:19
בְּֽרַחֲמִ֔ים 1x bə·ra·ḥă·mîm Zechariah 1:16
הָרַחֲמִ֖ים 1x hā·ra·ḥă·mîm Daniel 9:9
הָֽרַחֲמִֽים׃ 1x hā·ra·ḥă·mîm Jeremiah 16:5
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular 8x Psalms 25:6, Psalms 40:11, Psalms 51:1, Psalms 69:16
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular 6x Genesis 43:30, 2 Samuel 24:14, 1 Chronicles 21:13, Psalms 77:9
Noun - masculine plural 4x Genesis 43:14, Deuteronomy 13:17, Isaiah 47:6, Jeremiah 42:12
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural 4x 1 Kings 8:50, 2 Chronicles 30:9, Nehemiah 1:11, Psalms 106:46
Noun - masculine singular 3x Proverbs 30:16, Isaiah 46:3, Ezekiel 20:26
Article | Noun - masculine plural 2x Jeremiah 16:5, Daniel 9:9
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural 2x Psalms 103:4, Zechariah 7:9
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural 2x Isaiah 54:7, Hosea 2:19
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use womb and maternal imagery with sensitivity to infertility, pregnancy loss, traumatic birth, adoption, estrangement, and varied family experience.
- Compassion should move toward protection, truthful care, and appropriate boundaries rather than merely warm language.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that womb is the meaning of every H7356 occurrence or that etymology supplies a complete theology of compassion.
- Do not define womanhood, spiritual maturity, or divine favor by pregnancy or motherhood.
- Do not describe abusive, absent, or unsafe parental relationships as automatically trustworthy because Scripture uses parental imagery.
- Do not romanticize the captive-women language of Judges 5:30 or treat it as divine approval of sexual violence.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Compassion as visceral, physical sensation rooted in the womb—God's mercy is embodied tenderness, not abstract.
Source Gloss
compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus); by implication, a maiden
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
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.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Emotional plea for mercy and tender concern from a father toward his son
Compassionate feelings and care extended even toward animals, inner kindness
Divine compassion and tender mercies of God toward his people, innermost feelings
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 45 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
רַחַם is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
H7356 makes compassion concrete without making etymology sovereign. Joseph weeps, a mother protects her child, Babylon is judged for harshness toward elderly people, Daniel appeals to divine mercies, Zechariah commands compassion, and Proverbs includes care for animals. Lamentations speaks hope inside ruins rather than promising that mercy prevents every catastrophe.
Literal womb texts call for care around pregnancy, infertility, loss, adoption, reproductive trauma, and different family forms. Teachers should not assume that every woman is or should be a mother, that every parent experiences instinctive tenderness, or that a maternal image makes unsafe family relationships trustworthy. Biblical compassion moves toward protection and truthful care.
Anchor passage
Lam.3.22
Doctrinal connections
- Gen.43.30: Joseph's stirred compassion
- Gen.49.25: literal womb blessing
- Judg.5.30: dehumanizing war-spoil speech
- 1Kings.3.26: protection of a living child
- Isa.47.6: absence of compassion toward the elderly
- Lam.3.22: compassion amid catastrophe
- Dan.9.18: appeal to abundant mercies
- Zech.7.9: commanded interpersonal compassion
H7356 is a noun whose singular and plural forms occur in anatomical, emotional, and mercy contexts. Number and construction help identify the sense. It must not be confused with the H7355 verb or H7349 adjective.
From Old to New Testament
New Testament compassion language often uses bodily imagery and describes Jesus or communities acting mercifully. Those Greek terms continue a canonical theme but are not one-to-one lexical replacements for every H7356 sense.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain