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חָמַל

to spare

H2550 Strong's Hebrew
châmal Transliteration
/khaw-mal'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 41 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

חמל (châmal) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to spare.” It first appears in Exodus 2:6. With 40 verses in 15 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. It clusters with חמלה, מחמל and חמול under a shared root. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
have compassion
Modern gloss
to spare
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H2550 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

40
distinct verses
The word appears in 40 distinct verses.
15 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 15 of 39 Old Testament books.
Exodus 2:6
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Exodus 2:6.
Malachi 3:17
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Malachi 3:17.
#891
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 891 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 40 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 2 · 5%
  • Historical 9 · 23%
  • Wisdom 5 · 13%
  • Prophets 24 · 60%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 40 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 27 verses · 68%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 28%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 2 verses · 5%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

  • King James Version: Spare 4×, Spared 3×, Will i have pity 3×
  • American Standard Version: Spared 3×, Will i have pity 3×, Hath not pitied 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Mercy 5×, Pity 4×, Spare 4×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Spare 11×, Pity 4×, Had compassion 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2550 across 41 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Spare” 4×
  • “Spared” 3×
  • “Will i have pity” 3×
  • “Hath not pitied” 2×
  • “Pity” 2×

Plus 27 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H2550 across 41 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Spared” 3×
  • “Will i have pity” 3×
  • “Hath not pitied” 2×
  • “Him” 2×
  • “Spareth” 2×

Plus 29 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H2550 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Mercy” 5×
  • “Pity” 4×
  • “Spare” 4×
  • “Compassion” 3×
  • “Spared” 2×
  • “Spares” 2×
  • “Will i spare them” 2×
  • “Will i spare you” 2×

Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2550 across 56 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Spare” 11×
  • “Pity” 4×
  • “Had compassion” 3×
  • “He did” 3×
  • “Spare you” 3×
  • “Do” 2×
  • “Does” 2×
  • “He will” 2×
  • “Shown compassion” 2×
  • “Spare them” 2×

Plus 22 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


Senses in the full BDB

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 1 sense the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

Qal

  • Pf. ח׳ 1 S 15:15 + 3 times; חָמָ֑ל 2 S 12:6; La 2:17; חָמָ֑לְתָּ La 2:21; 3:43; וְחָמַלְתִּ֫י Mal 3:17; Impf. יַחְמֹל Jb 16:13 + 6 times; יַחְמוֹל Jb 6:10 + 3 times; וַיַּחְמֹל 1 S 15:9 + 3 times; 3 fs. וַתַּחְמֹל Ex 2:6; 2 ms. תַּחְמֹל Dt 13:9 1 S 15:3; אֶחְמֹל Ez 8:18; 9:10; אֶחְמוֹל Je 13:14 + 4 times; וָאֶחְמֹל Ez 36:21; יַחְמֹ֑לוּ Is 9:18; תַּחְמְלוּ Je 50:14; 51:3; תַּחְמֹ֑לוּ Ez 9:5; Inf. cstr. חֻמְלָה Ez 16:5 (Ges§ 45. 1. b);—spare, have compassion, c. על Ex 2:6 (E), 1 S 15:3, 9, 15; 23:21; 2 S 21:7; 2 Ch 36:15, 17; Je 15:5; Ez 16:5; 36:21; Jb 20:13; Zc 11:5, 6; Mal 3:17(×2) Jo 2:18; Dt 13:9 (‖ חוס sq. על), Je 21:7 (‖ חוס sq. על + רתם), Ez 9:10 (‖ חוס sq. על according to 𝔖 𝔗 Co); sq. אֶל־ Je 51:3; Is 9:18; note poet. אַל־תַּחְ׳ אֶל־חֵץ = spare no arrow Je 50:14; sq. Inf. 2 S 12:4; abs. 2 S 12:6; Is 30:14; La 2:17, 21, also v 2 where appar. sq. acc., 3:43; Jb 6:10; 16:13; 27:22; Pr 6:34; Hb 1:17; ‖ חוס Ez 5:11; 7:4 (del. Co as doubl. of v 9), 7:9; 8:18; 9:5; Jer 13:14 (‖ אחוס and ארחם). e.g. 1 Samuel 15:15

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

vb. spare (Arabic حَمَلَ is bear, become responsible; Aramaic ܚܡܰܠ comportavit, congessit);—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Origin: a primitive root

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: TWOT- 676


Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

חָמַל

  • (b. h.) [to be warm,] to have compassion. Men. 53ᵇ (play on המולה, Jer. XI, 16) חָמַלְתִּי עליהם I had mercy on them. e.g. Jeremiah 11:16

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.


Forms in the corpus

The 35 distinct written forms H2550 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
אֶחְמ֑וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ezekiel 7:4 2
אֶחְמֹ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ezekiel 8:18 2
חָמָֽלְתָּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Lamentations 2:21 2
יַחְמ֑וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 6:10 2
יַחְמֹ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 30:14 2
יַחְמֹ֣ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 20:13 2
אֶחְמ֥וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Zechariah 11:6 1
אֶחְמ֧וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Jeremiah 13:14 1
אֶחְמֽוֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ezekiel 5:11 1
וְ/חָמַלְתִּ֣י Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Malachi 3:17 1
וַ/יַּחְמֹ֖ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Joel 2:18 1
וַ/יַּחְמֹ֗ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 12:4 1
וַ/יַּחְמֹ֣ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 21:7 1
וַ/יַּחְמֹל֩ Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 15:9 1
וַ/תַּחְמֹ֣ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Exodus 2:6 1
וָ/אֶחְמֹ֖ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ezekiel 36:21 1
חֲמַלְתֶּ֖ם Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 Samuel 23:21 1
חָמַ֗ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Lamentations 2:2 1
חָמַ֛ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Chronicles 36:17 1
חָמַ֤ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 15:15 1
חָמַ֥ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Chronicles 36:15 1
חָמָ֑ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Lamentations 2:17 1
חָמָֽל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 12:6 1
יַ֝חְמ֗וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 6:34 1
יַחְמ֖וֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Zechariah 11:5 1
יַחְמֹ֖ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Jeremiah 21:7 1
יַחְמֹ֤ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Jeremiah 15:5 1
יַחְמֹֽלוּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Isaiah 9:19 1
יַחְמֽוֹל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Habakkuk 1:17 1
לְ/חֻמְלָ֣ה Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 16:5 1
תַחְמֹ֖ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 15:3 1
תַחְמֹ֥ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 13:8 1
תַּחְמְל֖וּ Verb, Qal, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Jeremiah 50:14 1
תַּחְמְלוּ֙ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Jeremiah 51:3 1
תַּחְמֹֽלוּ Verb, Qal, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 9:5 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2550, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derived from this word

Proper names from this root

People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.

Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 39 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 40 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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