רָחַם
to love
also: love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Piel verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Stem
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘of God’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 18 distinct
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 7 times (15%)
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 7 times (15%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 5 times (11%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 4 times (9%)
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Piel, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Pual, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (4%)
+10 more forms (13 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 47 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H7355 appears — 43 distinct verses across 14 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Exodus 1 verse
Deuteronomy 2 verses
- Deuteronomy 13:17 וְ/רִֽחַמְ/ךָ֣ conj + Piel wpf 3ms + sfx pers 2ms There shall cleave nothing of the devoted thing to your hand; that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;
- Deuteronomy 30:3 וְ/רִחֲמֶ֑/ךָ conj + Piel wpf 3ms + sfx pers 2ms that then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
1 Kings 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
Psalms 4 verses
- Psalms 18:1 אֶרְחָמְ/ךָ֖ Qal impf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms I love you, Yahweh, my strength.
- Psalms 102:13 תְּרַחֵ֣ם Piel impf 2ms You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
- Psalms 103:13 כְּ/רַחֵ֣ם רִחַ֥ם prep + Piel inf.cs Piel pf 3ms Like a father has compassion on his children, So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
- Psalms 116:5 מְרַחֵֽם Piel ptcp.act ms Gracious is Yahweh, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful.
Proverbs 1 verse
Isaiah 12 verses
- Isaiah 9:17 יְרַחֵ֔ם Piel impf 3ms Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Isaiah 13:18 יְרַחֵ֔מוּ Piel impf 3mp [Their] bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
- Isaiah 14:1 יְרַחֵ֨ם Piel impf 3ms For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the foreigner shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
- Isaiah 27:11 יְרַחֲמֶ֣/נּוּ Piel impf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms When the boughs of it are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isaiah 30:18 לְ/רַֽחֶמְ/כֶ֑ם prep + Piel inf.cs + sfx pers 2mp Therefore will Yahweh wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy on you: for Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
- Isaiah 49:10 מְרַחֲמָ֣/ם Piel ptcp.act ms cs + sfx pers 3mp They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them.
- Isaiah 49:13 יְרַחֵֽם Piel impf 3ms Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
- Isaiah 49:15 מֵ/רַחֵ֖ם prep + Piel inf.cs Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
- Isaiah 54:8 רִֽחַמְתִּ֑י/ךְ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2fs In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer.
- Isaiah 54:10 מְרַחֲמֵ֖/ךְ Piel ptcp.act ms cs + sfx pers 2fs For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
- Isaiah 55:7 וִֽ/ירַחֲמֵ֔/הוּ conj + Piel impf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- Isaiah 60:10 רִֽחַמְתִּֽי/ךְ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2fs Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.
Jeremiah 9 verses
- Jeremiah 6:23 יְרַחֵ֔מוּ Piel impf 3mp They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.
- Jeremiah 12:15 וְ/רִֽחַמְתִּ֑י/ם conj + Piel wpf 1cs + sfx pers 3mp It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
- Jeremiah 13:14 אֲרַחֵ֖ם Piel impf 1cs I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.
- Jeremiah 21:7 יְרַחֵֽם Piel impf 3ms Afterward, says Yahweh, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
- Jeremiah 30:18 אֲרַחֵ֑ם Piel impf 1cs Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner.
- Jeremiah 31:20 רַחֵ֥ם אֲֽרַחֲמֶ֖/נּוּ Piel inf.abs Piel impf 1cs + sfx pers 3ms Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 33:26 וְ/רִחַמְתִּֽי/ם conj + Piel wpf 1cs + sfx pers 3mp then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.
- Jeremiah 42:12 וְ/רִחַ֣ם conj + Piel wpf 3ms I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land.
- Jeremiah 50:42 יְרַחֵ֔מוּ Piel impf 3mp They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.
Lamentations 1 verse
Ezekiel 1 verse
Hosea 6 verses
- Hosea 1:6 אֲרַחֵם֙ Piel impf 1cs She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.
- Hosea 1:7 אֲרַחֵ֔ם Piel impf 1cs But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen."
- Hosea 2:1 רֻחָֽמָה Pual pf 3fs "Say to your brothers, 'My people!' And to your sisters, 'My loved one!'
- Hosea 2:4 אֲרַחֵ֑ם Piel impf 1cs Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; For they are children of unfaithfulness;
- Hosea 2:23 וְ/רִֽחַמְתִּ֖י רֻחָ֑מָה conj + Piel wpf 1cs n Proper I will sow her to me in the earth; And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; And I will tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people;' And they will say, 'My God!'"
- Hosea 14:3 יְרֻחַ֥ם Pual impf 3ms Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods!' For in you the fatherless finds mercy."
Micah 1 verse
Habakkuk 1 verse
Zechariah 2 verses
- Zechariah 1:12 תְרַחֵ֣ם Piel impf 2ms Then the angel of Yahweh replied, "O Yahweh of Hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"
- Zechariah 10:6 רִֽחַמְתִּ֔י/ם Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 3mp "I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back; For I have mercy on them; And they will be as though I had not cast them off: For I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them.
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.
רחם (râcham) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to love.” Translators differ — “have mercy” in the King James Version, then “compassion” (Berean Standard Bible), as the renderings breakdown shows. With 43 verses in 14 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Isaiah, which alone accounts for 28% of its uses. Read the stem: it spans 3 stems, including Qal and Piel. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7355 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 →
- 43
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 43 distinct verses.
- 14 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #783
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 783 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 43 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
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 43 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 34 verses · 79%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 6 verses · 14%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 3 verses · 7%
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).
- King James Version: Have mercy 8×, Have compassion 3×, I will have mercy 2×
- American Standard Version: Have compassion 6×, Have mercy 3×, Have no mercy 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Compassion 5×, Have compassion 3×, Has compassion 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Have compassion 4×, Have compassion on you 3×, Has compassion 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7355 across 47 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 28 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 H7355 across 47 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 26 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 H7355 across 45 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 23 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7355 across 48 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 25 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
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of Piel).
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 5 senses and sub-senses 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
- Impf. 1 s. sf. אֶרְחָֽמְךָ ψ 18:2 I love thee (perhaps gloss; v. not in ‖ 2 S 22:2; Hi Ch SS Gerber read אֲרֹמִמְךָ). e.g. Psalms 18:2
Piel
- Pf. 3 ms. רִחַם ψ 103:13 +; sf. וְרִחַמְךָ consec. Dt 13:18, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יְרַחֵם Is 9:16 +; sf. יְרַחֲמֵהוּ Is 55:7, etc.; Inf. abs. רַחֵם Je 31:20; Hb 3:2; cstr. רַחֵם Is 49:15 ψ 103:13; sf. רַחֶמְכֶם Is 30:18; Pt. מְרַחֵם ψ 116:5, etc.;—have compassion, be compassionate;— e.g. Psalms 103:13
- 1. usually of God: c. acc. of his people, Ex 33:19(×2) (J) Dt 13:18; 30:3; 2 K 13:23; Is 9:16; 14:1; 27:11; 30:18; 49:10, 13; 54:8, 10; 55:7; 60:10; Je 12:15; 30:18; 31:20(×2); 33:26; Ez 39:25; Ho 1:6, 7; 2:6, 25; Mi 7:19; Zc 1:12; 10:6 ψ 102:14; c. עַל 103:13; abs. Je 13:14; Hb 3:2 ψ 116:5 La 3:32. e.g. Exodus 33:19
- 2. of man, usually a conqueror: c. acc. 1 K 8:50; Je 42:12; abs. 6:23; 21:7; 50:42; elsewhere of children, c. acc. Is 13:18; 49:15; c. עַל ψ 103:13. e.g. 1 Kings 8:50
Pual
- Pf. 3 fs. רֻחָ֑מָה Ho 2:3, 25 (Ges§ 152 a. n. Köi, 270);—Impf. 3 ms. יְרֻחַם Ho 14:4; יְרֻחָ֑ם Pr 28:13; be shewn compassion, compassionated: of orphans Ho 14:4; children, of Israel wife of Yahweh 2:3, 25 (cf. לא־ר׳ 1:6, 8, p. 520); penitent sinner Pr 28:13. e.g. Hosea 2:3
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.denom. love Pi. have compassion;—
— 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
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.
רָחַם
- (b. h.) to love.
- 1. (with (with על) to have compassion on, pity; to befriend. Ber. 33ᵃ כל מי … אסור לרַחֵם עליו you must not befriend him who has no sense (ref. to Is. XXVII, 11). Sabb. 151ᵇ כל המְרַחֵם … מְרַחֲמִין עליו וכ׳ he who shows mercy to creatures (men), will be shown mercy in heaven (ref. to Deut. XIII, 18), v. רַחֲמָן. Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ מן השמים יְרַחֵמוּ heaven will have mercy (protect me); Nidd. 45ᵃ. Sot. VIII, 1 יְרַחֲמוּ עליכם they will have mercy on you (spare your lives); a. fr.—Trnsf. to give suck to a strange animal. Bekh. 24ᵃ אינה מְרַחֶמֶת אלא וכ׳ no dam gives suck to a stranger, unless she has had a child of her own. Ib. מרחמת אע"פ וכ׳ she may give suck, even if she has never given birth. e.g. Isaiah 27:11
- 2. to stimulate the maternal instinct (v. רֶחֶם) of an animal after confinement by inserting a lump of salt into the womb. Tosef. Sabb. XV (XVI), 2 מְרַחֲמִין היינו בהמה טהורה ביו"ט ed. Zuck. (Var. על בהמה) we (in my father’s house) used to stimulate &c. on a Holy Day; Sabb. 128ᵇ על בהמה; Y. ib. XVIII, end, 16ᶜ על הבהמה.
- to have pity. Num. R. s. 924 אם נופלים אנו … מִתְרַחֵם עלינו אין אנו מִתְרַחֲמִים עליו if we fall into David’s hands, he will have pity on us, but if David fall into our hands, we shall have no pity on him; Y. Sot. I, 17ᵇ bot. הוא מרחם … אנו מרחמין).
רְחֵם
- 1. to love (h. אהב). Targ. Gen. XXII, 2. Ib. XXXVII, 3. Targ. O. Deut. VI, 5. Targ. Prov. IV, 6 (ed. Wil. רָחֲמָהּ Pa.); a. fr.—Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII, 2 (expl. ארחמך, ib.) רַחֲמִית יתך וכ׳ I love thee (ref. to Targ. Deut. l. c.); Yalk. ib. 671 רַחְמָאִי יתך. Y. Ber. IX, 14ᵇ bot. (R. Akiba speaking to his pupils before his death) רְחִמְתֵּיה בכל לבי ורחמתיה וכ׳ I loved him with all my heart, and I loved him with all I possessed, but how to love him with all my soul (life) I could not understand, and now &c. Sabb. 23ᵇ דרָחֵים רבנן וכ׳ he who loves scholars shall have children that are scholars. Y. ib. XIV, 14ᵈ bot. חד בר נש ר׳ אתתא וכ׳ a man fell in love with a woman … and grew dangerously ill; Y. Ab. Zar. II, 40ᵈ bot. Lev. R. s. 25 שמעית דמלכא רַחְמָא וכ׳ I heard that the king loves figs; Koh. R. to II, 20 רחים; ib. רחימא; ib. רחמיה (corr. acc.). Y. Ab. Zar. II, 41ᵃ bot. דהוות רַחְמָא מצוותא who loved to be charitable; Y. Ter. VIII, 45ᶜ bot. הוו רחמנא וכ׳ (corr. acc.). Keth. 105ᵇ אם מִרְחַם כולהו רַחְמוּ לי וכ׳ if there is love (among them), they all love me &c., v. סְנֵי. Snh. 89ᵇ תרוייהו רַחֲמִינִי להו I love both of them (Isaac und Ishmael); a. fr.
- 2. (with על) to have compassion on, pity. Targ. Ps. CIII, 13. Targ. Prov. XXVIII, 13; a. fr.
- 1. to love. Targ. Gen. XXIX, 32 (O. ed. Vien. Pe.). Targ. Y. Deut. VI, 5; a. e.—Keth. l. c. האי … דמְרַחְמִין ליה וכ׳ if the people of a place love a teacher, it is not because he is a good man, but because he does not reprove them on heavenly matters (for neglect of religious duties). Y. Ter. VIII, 45ᶜ אילולי דאתון מרחמין שמועתא וכ׳ but for your loving traditions (you would not ask such questions); is it not a Mishnah?; Y. Ab. Zar. II, 41ᵃ רחמין; a. e.—Trnsf. to give suck (v. preced.). Bekh. 24ᵃ or shall we say, דידה מְרַחְמָא דלא וכ׳ a dam gives suck to her own young, but not to a stranger. Ib. דילמא רַחוּמֵי רחים perhaps this is a case when one gives suck to a stranger (although having a child of her own); v. שְׁבַק.
- 2. (with על) to compassionate, pity. Targ. Jer. XXXI, 19. Targ. O. Num. VI, 25 וירחם עלך ed. Lisb. (oth. ed. ויר׳ יתך; in ed. Berl. untranslated). Targ. Deut. VII, 2; a. fr.—Macc. 23ᵇ מדהא מְרַחַמְתָּא והא לא מרחמתא (Solomon found out which was the true mother of the living child,) because the one showed compassion, and the other did not. Y. Taan. II, 65ᵇ אמרין … מִתְרַחֵם עלינן לינן מְרַחְמִין וכ׳ the men of Niniveh said, if thou wilt have no mercy on us, we shall have no mercy on them (the beasts and the children); a. fr.
- 1. to be loved, beloved. Targ. Prov. XV, 9.
- 2. (with על) to be pitied, be shown mercy. Targ. Y. Ex. XXXIII, 19. Targ. Gen. XLIII, 29. Targ. Hos. XIV, 4; a. e.
- 3. to be moved to mercy, have pity. Targ. Jer. XXXI, 18 (19) מתרחם ed. Lag. (oth. ed. מתנחם; h. text נחמתי).—Y. Taan. l. c., v. supra; a. e.
רָחָם
- (b. h.) raḥam, name of an unclean bird, giereagle or vulture. Ḥull. 63ᵃ ר׳ זו שרקרק ולמה … ר׳ כיון שבא ר׳ וכ׳ raḥam (Lev. XI, 18) is the sh’raḳraḳ, and why is it called raḥam (love)? Because when the r. comes, mercy comes upon the world (it betokens rain). e.g. Leviticus 11:18
רָחֵם
- friend, v. רַחֲמָא III.
רֶחֶם
- (b. h.) orifice of the matrix; womb. B. Bath. 16ᵇ, a. e. רַחְמָהּ צר, v. אַיָּלָה. Num. R. s. 105 קבלה הר׳ וכ׳ (fem.) the womb conceived &c. Ḥull. 70ᵃ כותלי בית הר׳ the sides of the womb; a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 37; Yalk. Ps. 869 (ref. to Ps. CX, 3) מרַחְמוֹ של אולם שחרתיך לי from the womb of the world (sunrise, east) did I choose thee for me.—Pl. רְחָמִים. Ḥull. l. c. Ber. 32ᵇ פטרי ר׳ the firstborn; a. e. e.g. Psalms 110:3
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 41 distinct written forms H7355 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7355, 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
- רחום rachûwm H7349 compassionate
- רחם racham H7356 compassion
- רחם rechem H7358 womb
- רחם râchâm H7360 vulture
- רחמני rachmânîy H7362 compassionate
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 → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 40 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 43 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
- Exodus 33:19
- Deuteronomy 13:17
- 1 Kings 8:50
- 2 Kings 13:23
- Psalms 18:1
- Proverbs 28:13
- Isaiah 9:17
- Jeremiah 6:23
- Lamentations 3:32
- Ezekiel 39:25
- Hosea 1:6
- Micah 7:19
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.
