# H5162 - nacham **Strong's:** [H5162](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5162/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** naw-kham' **Part of speech:** verb **Root:** a primitive root, probably "to breathe deeply, to sigh", from which both the grief sense and the consolation sense develop **OT occurrences:** 108 tagged instances across 100 verses (Strong's-tagged text) *Nacham* is the verb behind every English rendering of God "repenting", "relenting", "being sorry", or "changing His mind", and it is the single word carrying the [God-is-surprised](/codex/god-is-surprised-objection/) and open-theist case. It is also the verb behind "comfort" in [Isaiah 40:1](/codex/isaiah-40-1/) and [Psalm 23:4](/codex/psalms-23-4/). One word, two families of meaning, and the theological dispute lives in the gap between them. ## Semantic range (BDB / HALOT / TDOT) The stem does most of the work. | Stem | Sense | Example | |---|---|---| | **Niphal** | to be sorry, to regret, to relent, to be moved to pity | Gen 6:6; Exod 32:14; Jonah 3:10 | | **Niphal** (reflexive) | to console oneself, to be comforted | Gen 38:12 | | **Piel** | to comfort, to console another | Isa 40:1; Ps 23:4 | | **Pual** | to be comforted | Isa 54:11 | | **Hithpael** | to console oneself, sometimes to take vengeance as relief | Gen 27:42 | The unifying idea is a strong emotional exhalation, a sigh, which can be the sigh of grief, of relief, or of consolation. Nothing in the semantic range is cognitive. **The word never means "to learn" or "to discover", and it never marks the acquisition of information.** That is the observation on which most of the exegetical dispute turns. ## The word is not a repentance-from-sin word English "repent" in older translations imports a moral connotation the Hebrew does not carry here. The OT verb for turning from sin is *shuv* ([H7725 - shuv](/codex/h7725-shuv/)), "to turn, return", and it is what the prophets demand of Israel. When *nacham* is used of God, no fault is confessed and no direction of life is changed; what changes is a stated course of action in response to a change in the other party. ## The name-and-wordplay layer - **Noah.** [Genesis 5:29](/codex/genesis-5-29/) gives the naming etymology by wordplay: "this one shall comfort us (*yenachamenu*) in our work and in the toil of our hands." The name *Noach* itself is normally derived from *nuach*, "rest" (H5117); the verse trades on the sound rather than the etymology, which is standard in Hebrew naming scenes. - **Nehemiah** (*Nechemyah*), "YHWH comforts". **Nahum** (*Nachum*), "comfort". **Menachem**, "comforter". ## The divine-relenting texts These are the passages the objection is built from, and they are real. Do not soften the translations. > The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ([Genesis 6:6](/codex/genesis-6-6/), NASB95) > So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. ([Exodus 32:14](/codex/exodus-32-14/), NASB95) > When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. ([Jonah 3:10](/codex/jonah-3-10/), NASB95) Also [1 Samuel 15:11](/codex/1-samuel-15-11/) and [15:35](/codex/1-samuel-15-35/), [Jeremiah 18:8](/codex/jeremiah-18-8/), [Amos 7:3](/codex/amos-7-3/) and [7:6](/codex/amos-7-6/), [Joel 2:13](/codex/joel-2-13/), [Psalm 106:45](/codex/psalms-106-45/). ## The same word denying the same thing The tension is not one the objector discovered; the text sets it up deliberately, and twice puts both sides in a single passage. > God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent (*yitnecham*). ([Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/), NASB95) > Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind (*yinnachem*); for He is not a man that He should change His mind. ([1 Samuel 15:29](/codex/1-samuel-15-29/), NASB95) [1 Samuel 15](/codex/1-samuel-15/) is the decisive case. Verse 11 says God relented over making Saul king, verse 29 says God does not relent because He is not a man, and verse 35 says He relented, all in one chapter, from one author, with the same verb. No writer produces that sequence by accident, and no reading survives that takes verse 11 as a report of divine ignorance while verse 29 sits twenty-four verses later. The chapter is telling the reader that the two statements operate at different levels: God's settled character and purpose do not shift, and His declared dealings with a person genuinely change when that person changes. ## Theological force 1. **Regret is not ignorance.** The word reports grief and reversal of a declared course, never the arrival of new information. One can be genuinely sorry about a foreseen outcome; grief over a known evil is more coherent than grief over a surprising one, not less. 2. **Relenting is the announced policy, not a departure from it.** [Jeremiah 18:7-10](/codex/jeremiah-18-7-10/) states the principle openly: announced judgment is conditional on repentance, and announced blessing is conditional on obedience. When God relents in [Jonah 3:10](/codex/jonah-3-10/), the stated rule is running as published. 3. **The relenting is predictable enough to be fled from.** [Jonah 4:2](/codex/jonah-4-2/) is the strongest single verse on this point. Jonah says he ran to Tarshish in the first place *because he knew* God is gracious, compassionate, and "one who relents (*nacham*) concerning calamity." The prophet treats the relenting as so reliable a feature of God's character that he could forecast it before setting out. A God whose relenting is a surprise cannot be the God Jonah was avoiding. 4. **It is covenant-relational language.** *Nacham* belongs to the same vocabulary field as [H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/) and [H7356 - rachamim](/codex/h7356-rachamim/). It describes God as personally engaged with those He deals with, not as a fixed mechanism, and the doctrine of [immutability](/codex/divine-immutability/) that denies this is a philosophical overreach the texts do not require. ## Notable verses - [Genesis 6:6](/codex/genesis-6-6/), the flood prologue, grief at human evil - [Exodus 32:14](/codex/exodus-32-14/), after Moses's intercession at the golden calf - [Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/), the denial, in Balaam's oracle - [1 Samuel 15:11](/codex/1-samuel-15-11/), [15:29](/codex/1-samuel-15-29/), [15:35](/codex/1-samuel-15-35/), all three in one chapter - [Jeremiah 18:8](/codex/jeremiah-18-8/), the potter's-house principle - [Jonah 3:10](/codex/jonah-3-10/) and [4:2](/codex/jonah-4-2/), the relenting and the prophet who predicted it - [Joel 2:13](/codex/joel-2-13/), "relenting of evil" listed among the divine attributes of [Exodus 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/) - [Isaiah 40:1](/codex/isaiah-40-1/), *nachamu nachamu ammi*, the comfort sense at full strength - [Psalm 23:4](/codex/psalms-23-4/), the rod and staff that comfort - [Genesis 5:29](/codex/genesis-5-29/), the Noah wordplay ## See also - [God Is Surprised Objection](/codex/god-is-surprised-objection/), the objection built on the relenting texts - [God Is Surprised Objection Defeater](/codex/god-is-surprised-objection-defeater/), the debate-prep reply - [Divine Immutability](/codex/divine-immutability/), the attribute under dispute - [God Is Not a Man Objection Defeater](/codex/god-is-not-a-man-objection-defeater/), the counter-missionary use of [Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/) - [Open Theism](/codex/open-theism/), the position that reads these texts as limiting foreknowledge - [H7725 - shuv](/codex/h7725-shuv/), the actual turn-from-sin verb, which this word is not - [H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/), covenant loyalty, the neighboring field - [H7356 - rachamim](/codex/h7356-rachamim/), compassion, the neighboring field - [H3045 - yada](/codex/h3045-yada/), to know, the verb in the other half of the objection - [Foreknowledge vs Causation](/codex/foreknowledge-vs-causation/), the wider foreknowledge cluster ## Notes _Lexical workspace for nacham._ --- _Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_