Strong’s H5162 · Hebrew

נָחַם
nâcham
naw-kham'

Definition

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)

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

  • comfort (self)
  • ease (one's self)
  • repent(-er
  • -ing
  • self)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.