# H7356 - rachamim

<!-- type: lexicon | created: 2026-05-31 | updated: 2026-05-31 -->

**Strong's:** [H7356](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7356/) · BLB lookup
**Pronunciation:** rakh-am-eem' (final syllable stressed; plural form)
**Part of speech:** noun, masculine plural (plural intensive)
**Cognates:** [H7355](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7355/) *racham* (verb, "to love, have compassion"); [H7358](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7358/) *rechem* (noun, "womb"); H7349 *rachum* (adjective, "compassionate")
**OT occurrences:** ~40 (noun), ~47 (verb), ~26 (womb)
**Greek equivalent (LXX):** *oiktirmos* / *oiktirmoi* ("compassion, pity"); *splanchna* ("bowels, viscera, the seat of tender affection"), Paul deploys this NT counterpart ([Phil 1:8](/codex/philippians-1-8/); [Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/)) precisely to carry the visceral force the Hebrew lexeme transmits

## Semantic range (BDB / HALOT / TDOT)

The noun *rachamim* is the **plural intensive** of *racham* and shares its root with *rechem* (womb). The plural form does not denote multiple compassions but the *intensity* and *depth* of one rich compassion (similar to *chayyim* "life" or *panim* "face", Hebrew plural-of-abstraction). Five overlapping senses:

1. **Tender, womb-rooted compassion**, the *visceral* affection a mother feels for the child of her *rechem* (womb). The lexeme draws its semantic force from the maternal-bodily image: deep, instinctive, protective, irreducible.
2. **Mercies, pity**, the activated *expression* of that compassion in concrete acts of relief, deliverance, or forgiveness.
3. **Love, tender affection**, the relational-bond sense; what one feels for one's own.
4. **Compassion-as-divine-attribute**, a constitutive feature of YHWH's covenant character; one of the foundational divine self-disclosures ([Ex 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)).
5. **Compassion-as-human-imperative**, the disposition Israel and the church are commanded to imitate ([Zech 7:9](/codex/zechariah-7-9/); [Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/)).

## Theological force

### The maternal-imagery root

English "compassion" is etymologically Latin (*cum-passio*, "feeling-with"). The Hebrew lexeme is anatomical: *rachamim* is the *womb-feeling*, the deep, visceral, instinctive, protective tenderness a mother feels for the child of her body. The most direct OT articulation is [Isaiah 49.15](/codex/isaiah-49-15/): "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion (*rachem*) on the son of her womb (*rechem*)?", where the verbal *rachem* and the noun *rechem* sit in the same clause, making the etymology explicit.

This is one of the central OT contributions to a *full-orbed* doctrine of God's character. The dominant biblical imagery for God is paternal ([Deut 32:6](/codex/deuteronomy-32-6/); [Ps 103:13](/codex/psalms-103-13/); [Mal 1:6](/codex/malachi-1-6/); the NT *Pater*-name); *rachamim* opens the maternal register *within* the larger paternal frame. Other maternal-imagery texts include [Isa 42:14](/codex/isaiah-42-14/) (God as a woman in labor); [Isa 66:13](/codex/isaiah-66-13/) ("as one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you"); [Deut 32:18](/codex/deuteronomy-32-18/) (God who "gave you birth"); [Hos 11:3-4](/codex/hosea-11-3-4/) (the mother-bird tenderness, "I taught Ephraim to walk"); [Matt 23:37](/codex/matthew-23-37/) // [Luke 13:34](/codex/luke-13-34/) (Jesus as the mother hen). The point is *not* that God is female (Scripture's primary pronouns and names are masculine) but that the *fullness* of divine character requires both registers: the strong-protective paternal *and* the visceral-nurturing maternal. *Rachamim* is the OT word that carries the latter.

### The foundational self-disclosure ([Exodus 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/))

The most consequential occurrence of the lexeme (in its adjectival cognate *rachum*) is the divine self-disclosure to Moses at Sinai after the golden calf: *"YHWH, YHWH, El rachum v'chanun"*, "YHWH, YHWH, a God *compassionate* and *gracious*, slow to anger, abundant in *hesed* and *emet*..." ([Exodus 34.6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)). This text becomes the *single most-quoted divine self-description in the OT* ([Num 14:18](/codex/numbers-14-18/); [Neh 9:17](/codex/nehemiah-9-17/); [Pss 86:15](/codex/psalms-86-15/); 103:8; 145:8; [Joel 2:13](/codex/joel-2-13/); [Jonah 4:2](/codex/jonah-4-2/); [Nah 1:3](/codex/nahum-1-3/)). It establishes that *rachum* / *rachamim* is not a passing mood of God but a *constitutive feature* of His covenantal character.

### The *hesed*-*rachamim* pairing

*Rachamim* is most often paired with *[H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/)* (covenant-lovingkindness, loyal love). The pairing is foundational:

- **[Exodus 34.6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)**, *rachum v'chanun … rav-chesed*
- **[Psalm 25:6](/codex/psalms-25-6/)**, "Remember Your *rachamim* and Your *chasadim*"
- **[Psalm 51:1](/codex/psalms-51-1/)**, "according to Your *chesed*... according to the multitude of Your *rachamim*"
- **[Psalm 103:4](/codex/psalms-103-4/), [8](/codex/psalms-103-8/)**, "who crowns you with *chesed* and *rachamim*"
- **[Lamentations 3.22](/codex/lamentations-3-22/)**, "of YHWH's *chasdei* [chesed-plural] we are not consumed; His *rachamim* fail not"
- **[Hosea 2.19](/codex/hosea-2-19/)**, the five-fold bridal qualities: *tzedeq, mishpat, chesed, rachamim, emunah*
- **[Micah 7:18-20](/codex/micah-7-18-20/)**, *delights in chesed... will have compassion (yerachamenu)*

The pairing structures the OT character of God: *hesed* names His *loyalty-in-covenant*; *rachamim* names His *tenderness-in-relation*. *Hesed* without *rachamim* would be cold duty; *rachamim* without *hesed* would be sentimental and unreliable. The two together form the OT's full doctrine of covenant-love.

### The NT extension: *splanchna* and *oiktirmoi*

The NT inherits *rachamim* through two LXX-mediated Greek words. *Oiktirmoi* ([Rom 12:1](/codex/romans-12-1/), "by the *mercies* of God"; [2 Cor 1:3](/codex/2-corinthians-1-3/), "Father of *mercies*"; [Phil 2:1](/codex/philippians-2-1/); [Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/)) is the formal lexical correspondent. But Paul's preferred deployment is *splanchna* ("bowels, viscera", the Greek anatomical-image word) precisely because *splanchna* carries the *visceral* force that *rachamim* carries in Hebrew. [Phil 1:8](/codex/philippians-1-8/) (Paul "longs for them with the *splanchna* of Christ"), [Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/) (clothe yourselves with *splanchna oiktirmou*), [1 John 3:17](/codex/1-john-3-17/) (shutting up one's *splanchna* from a brother in need), the lexical decision recovers the womb-rooted force of the OT lexeme.

The NT also recovers the *rachamim* dynamic in Jesus' compassion miracles, where the verb *splanchnizomai* ("to be moved in the bowels with compassion") is used precisely of Christ's deep, gut-level response to human suffering ([Matt 9:36](/codex/matthew-9-36/); 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; [Mark 1:41](/codex/mark-1-41/); 6:34; 8:2; [Luke 7:13](/codex/luke-7-13/); 10:33; 15:20, the Father's *splanchnizomai* over the returning prodigal). The Christology runs straight through: the *rachum* God of [Exodus 34](/codex/exodus-34/) *is* the *splanchnizomai* Christ of the Gospels.

### Compassion-as-imperative

Because YHWH is *rachum*, His people are commanded to be *rachum*. [Zech 7:9](/codex/zechariah-7-9/) ("execute true judgment, and show *chesed* and *rachamim* one to another"); [Mic 6:8](/codex/micah-6-8/) (*chesed* clause); the NT extension in [Luke 6:36](/codex/luke-6-36/) ("be merciful, *oiktirmones*, as your Father is *oiktirmōn*"); [Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/) (the Christian wardrobe begins with *splanchna oiktirmou*); [James 5:11](/codex/james-5-11/) (the Lord is *polysplanchnos kai oiktirmōn*). The imitation-of-divine-compassion is structurally embedded in biblical ethics.

## Apologetic / theological significance

*Rachamim* anchors:

1. **The doctrine of the divine character**, God's compassion is not contingent but constitutive; the foundational self-disclosure ([Ex 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)) names it as one of the bedrock divine attributes.
2. **Theological-anthropological apologetics**, the OT-NT God meets human suffering at the visceral level; this defeats both deistic-distant-deity caricatures and the Marcionite split between an angry OT God and a loving NT God.
3. **The *hesed*-*rachamim* doctrine of covenant-love**, the structural pairing that grounds the OT understanding of covenant.
4. **The maternal-imagery defense**, against caricatures that biblical-theistic God-talk is exclusively patriarchal, *rachamim* opens the explicit maternal register within Scripture's own vocabulary, without sliding into goddess-theology or gender-fluid metaphysics.
5. **Pastoral / counseling theology**, the NT *splanchna* / *splanchnizomai* deployment grounds confident approach to God in weakness ([Heb 4:15-16](/codex/hebrews-4-15-16/)) and the Christian disposition toward suffering neighbor ([Col 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/); [1 John 3:17](/codex/1-john-3-17/)).
6. **Theodicy**, [Lamentations 3.22](/codex/lamentations-3-22/) grounds the *hope-amid-ruins* response to suffering: God's *rachamim* is the floor under covenant judgment.

## Notable verses

### The foundational self-disclosure
- **[Exodus 34.6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)**, *rachum v'chanun*, the bedrock divine self-description
- **[Numbers 14:18](/codex/numbers-14-18/); [Nehemiah 9:17](/codex/nehemiah-9-17/); [Joel 2:13](/codex/joel-2-13/); [Jonah 4:2](/codex/jonah-4-2/); [Nahum 1:3](/codex/nahum-1-3/)**, echoes throughout the canon
- **[Psalms 86:15](/codex/psalms-86-15/); 103:8; 145:8**, psalmic citations

### Maternal / womb-rooted compassion
- **[Isaiah 49.15](/codex/isaiah-49-15/)**, the *rachem / rechem* (compassion / womb) etymological pairing
- **[Isaiah 42:14](/codex/isaiah-42-14/); 66:13**, the woman-in-labor and comforting-mother images
- **[Hosea 11:3-4](/codex/hosea-11-3-4/)**, mother-bird tenderness

### *Hesed*-*rachamim* pairing
- **[Psalm 25:6](/codex/psalms-25-6/)**, "remember Your *rachamim* and Your *chasadim* of old"
- **[Psalm 51:1](/codex/psalms-51-1/)**, the penitential opening
- **[Psalms 103.13](/codex/psalms-103-13/)**, paternal-compassion parallel
- **[Lamentations 3.22](/codex/lamentations-3-22/)**, "His compassions fail not"
- **[Hosea 2.19](/codex/hosea-2-19/)**, the five-fold bridal qualities
- **[Micah 7:18-20](/codex/micah-7-18-20/)**, the closing prayer of Micah

### Covenant deliverance
- **[Deuteronomy 4:31](/codex/deuteronomy-4-31/)**, "YHWH your God is a *rachum* God; He will not forsake you"
- **[Deuteronomy 13:17](/codex/deuteronomy-13-17/)**, post-judgment restoration of *rachamim*
- **[2 Samuel 24:14](/codex/2-samuel-24-14/)**, David: "let us fall into YHWH's hand, for His *rachamim* are great"

### Penitential psalms
- **[Psalm 69:16](/codex/psalms-69-16/); 79:8; 119:77, 156**, appeals to YHWH's *rachamim* from distress

### Restoration prophecies
- **[Isaiah 54:7-10](/codex/isaiah-54-7-10/)**, "with great *rachamim* will I gather you"
- **[Isaiah 63:7](/codex/isaiah-63-7/), [15](/codex/isaiah-63-15/)**, the *rachamim* of YHWH in Israel's history
- **[Jeremiah 16:5](/codex/jeremiah-16-5/)**, the inverted: removal of *rachamim* in judgment
- **[Zechariah 1:16](/codex/zechariah-1-16/)**, restoration of Jerusalem in *rachamim*

### Compassion-as-imperative
- **[Zechariah 7:9](/codex/zechariah-7-9/)**, the ethical imperative
- **[Luke 6:36](/codex/luke-6-36/); [Colossians 3:12](/codex/colossians-3-12/); [James 5:11](/codex/james-5-11/); [1 John 3:17](/codex/1-john-3-17/)**, NT extensions

## Patristic / scholarly note

The patristic-medieval theological tradition reads *rachamim* through both the Sinai self-disclosure ([Ex 34:6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/)) and the NT Pauline-*splanchna* extension. **Origen** (*Homilies on Numbers*) and **Augustine** (*Confessions* X; *On the Spirit and the Letter*) develop the *miseratio Dei* (God's pity) as the structural ground of grace. **Aquinas** (*Summa Theologiae* I.21.3-4) places *misericordia* as a perfection of the divine will, not a passion, and discusses precisely how a non-passible God can be said to have *rachamim* / *misericordia*, the answer is that the *effects* of mercy (rescue, forgiveness, sustenance) are real while the *passion-structure* of human pity is appropriately denied of the divine essence.

The Reformed tradition (Calvin, *Institutes* III.20.15; *Commentary on [Exodus 34](/codex/exodus-34/)*; Owen, *Communion with the Triune God*) sees *rachum v'chanun* as the master-clause of the divine name. **John Owen** in particular develops the *splanchna of Christ* ([Heb 4:15-16](/codex/hebrews-4-15-16/)) as the pastoral-theological backbone of the believer's confidence in approach to God.

Modern engagement: **Phyllis Trible** (*God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality*, 1978) is the foundational treatment of the *rechem*-rooted maternal-imagery thread, read carefully within trinitarian-orthodox bounds. **Elizabeth Achtemeier**, **Walter Brueggemann** (*Theology of the Old Testament*), and **Christopher Wright** (*The Mission of God*) develop *rachamim* as a central thread of OT theology proper. **Karl Barth** (*Church Dogmatics* II.1, §30) treats divine compassion (*Erbarmen*) as the form God's righteousness takes toward His creatures.

## See also

- [H2617 - hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/), *hesed*, the structural pairing partner (covenant-lovingkindness)
- H2603 - chanan, *chanan* / *chen*, the *gracious* of *rachum v'chanun*
- H7355 - racham, the verbal cognate
- *G3628 - oiktirmos*, the LXX / NT lexical correspondent
- *G4698 - splanchna*, the NT visceral-image extension
- *G4697 - splanchnizomai*, the Synoptic compassion-verb
- [Attributes of God](/codex/divine-attributes/), the doctrinal-attributes hub
- [Divine Love](/codex/g0025-agapao/), adjacent concept
- [Hesed](/codex/h2617-hesed/), the *hesed*-side of the pairing
- Theodicy and Suffering, the *rachamim*-as-floor-under-judgment frame
- Passages: [Exodus 34.6-7](/codex/exodus-34-6-7/), [Psalms 103.13](/codex/psalms-103-13/), [Isaiah 49.15](/codex/isaiah-49-15/), [Lamentations 3.22](/codex/lamentations-3-22/), [Hosea 2.19](/codex/hosea-2-19/)

## Notes

_Lexical workspace for rachamim._