The Hebrew verb נָחַם (nacham)
OverviewThe Hebrew verb נָחַם (transliterated as nāḥam or nacham) is a primitive root verb in Biblical Hebrew, appearing over 100 times in the Old Testament.
It fundamentally conveys the idea of sighing or breathing strongly, often implying deep emotional responses such as grief, regret, or relief. This root carries a broad semantic range, shifting based on context from negative connotations (e.g., sorrow or vengeance) to positive ones (e.g., comfort or compassion). Its pronunciation is approximately naw-kham' (with a guttural "ch" like in "loch").Key Definitions and Meanings
- Core Sense: To sigh, breathe strongly, or groan (reflecting physical/emotional intensity).
Every source you will ever find that suggests this is based on Strong's definition which reads as follows...
nâcham, naw-kham'; a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):—comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self). -
Strong's H5162
Now, here are the more serious lexical and exegetical sources that show how the verb is actually understood
in Biblical Hebrew usage.
Brown–Driver–Briggs (BDB)
BDB (still a standard academic lexicon) gives the
Hebrew meaning as:
“verb Niph. be sorry, console oneself, etc.”
It then lists senses like:
- “be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion”
- “be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent”
- “comfort oneself, be comforted, ease oneself” Bible Hub
In a parenthetical note BDB mentions an
Arabic cognate meaning “breathe pantingly (of a horse)” but that is clearly flagged as a comparative note, not the working gloss for Biblical Hebrew. The actual senses BDB uses in passages are “be sorry / regret / have compassion / be comforted,” not “sigh.”
NAS Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon (based on BDB)
The NAS lexicon entry for
nacham gives:
- “to be sorry, have compassion”
- “to rue, repent of”
- “to comfort oneself, be comforted”
- “to ease oneself.” Bible Study Tools
Again, no “sigh” or “breathe strongly” in the definition of the Hebrew verb’s use.
HALOT (Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT)
HALOT is one of the two big modern scholarly lexicons (with DCH). You mostly see it quoted rather than fully reproduced online because of copyright, but:
- A Reformed Baptist teaching outline quotes HALOT’s gloss for נָחַם:
“The Hebrew verb nāḥam means ‘1.
to regret: a) to become remorseful … b) to regret something … 2.
to be sorry, come to regret something …’ (HALOT #6096).”
Reformed Baptist Blog
- NET Bible notes, which lean on BDB/HALOT, regularly take נִחַם as “be sorry,” “change one’s mind,” or “relent,” especially in texts like Jonah 3 and Deuteronomy 32:36. classic.net.bible.org+1
These modern tools treat
regret / change of mind / compassion / comfort as the operative meaning. Any “panting” idea, if mentioned at all, is left in the etymology, not the definition.
Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH)
DCH is the other heavyweight lexicon; online snippets are hard to see directly, but in scholarly literature it is cited along with HALOT as giving similar semantic categories: regret, comfort, compassion, relent. You can see it referenced together with HALOT in academic treatments of Isaiah 61 and related texts.
Academia
These are not on the same level as HALOT or BDB, but they are independent of Strong’s and show how people
not copying Strong’s handle נָחַם.
- Abarim Publications – “The multifarious verb נחם (naham), may mean to be sorry in the sense of being compassionate, to be sorry in the sense of being regretful, or to comfort oneself, depending on the context.” Abarim Publications
- StudyLight – “Hebrew Thoughts” on נָחַם
- Notes that נָחַם is “associated with grief and death and hence ‘comfort’ seems an appropriate translation,” giving examples like Genesis 38:12; II Samuel 10:2; Isaiah 61:2; Jeremiah 31:15. studylight.org
- Chaim Bentorah, “Hebrew Word Study – Comfort – Nacham”
- Describes nacham as “expressing restrained feelings, to have the compassion to console,” focusing on comfort/compassion. chaimbentorah.com
- Hebrew Word Lessons – “Nakham: COMFORT on Tisha B’Av”
- Treats נָחַם as the root of “comfort,” used for God’s comforting of His people. Hebrew Word Lessons
- VOJ Israel – “Hebrew Word of the Week – Nacham”
- “The Hebrew word Nacham (נָחַם, nah-KHAM) means to comfort, to console, to bring relief.” Voice of Judah Israel
- Word of Grace Studies – “Relent (נָחַם)”
- “Nacham (נָחַם) is often translated as ‘comfort’, ‘sorry’, ‘relent’, ‘repent’, ‘moved with pity’, or ‘grieved’…” wordofgracestudies.org
All of these explain the verb in terms of
emotional change and comfort/compassion, not in terms of the physical act of sighing.
In short, Nacham, in Biblical Hebrew, means “to regret / relent / be moved to compassion / comfort,” and some older lexical traditions (esp. Strong’s) suggest an underlying physical gesture of sighing or breathing strongly, but that gesture is not the normal dictionary meaning of the verb’s usage in Scripture.
James Strong’s Concordance (1890) was designed so English readers could find Hebrew and Greek roots.
It was
never intended to be a top-tier lexicon.
He assigned
one “root meaning” to each Hebrew root. These were often:
- speculative
- overly literal
- based on cognates in Arabic, Syriac, or Aramaic
- disconnected from actual Hebrew usage
So the gloss “to sigh, breathe strongly” is
not an exegetical definition, but an
attempt to reduce the root to a physical action behind the emotion.
Strong defines נָחַם (
nacham) as “to sigh, breathe strongly” because he relied on
19th-century comparative philology, not on the semantic usage of the verb in the Hebrew Bible. His definition reflects an
etymological guess, not the actual meaning of the word in Hebrew Scripture.
Strong pulled a large portion of his “root” definitions from
Wilhelm Gesenius (1786–1842).
Gesenius thought נָחַם was connected to an Arabic verb meaning:
- “to groan,”
- “to pant,”
- “to draw breath heavily.”
He also connected it with the panting of horses.
Modern linguistics has rejected many of those early Arabic/Hebrew “cognate” guesses. They do not reliably predict Hebrew meaning. Gesenius himself sometimes doubted his own etymologies.
But Strong kept them
tightly.
So, what do ya know! The translators of every English bible in existence knew more about the Hebrew language than Lon! Imagine that!
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"ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info."
I do precisely that! You'll notice that the above is fully sourced where you can click the links and confirm for yourself whether what is presented here is true or false.
Root Sense
