Word study
Merciful
4 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “merciful”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “merciful” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָנַן chânanshew favour, be gracioustranslated this way 7 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H2603Verb · Translated: gracious 17, mercy 14, merciful 7, favor 4Full study and all 72 verses →
Psalm 6:2 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
Psalm 9:13 Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
- רַחוּם rachûmcompassionatetranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7349Adjective · Translated: compassionate 11, merciful 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.
2 Chronicles 30:9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”
- חֶסֶד chesedgoodness, kindnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 247 uses · Strong’s H2617Noun · Translated: loving devotion 175, kindness 31, according to your loving devotion 6, favor 4Full study and all 241 verses →
1 Kings 20:31 Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.”
- חָסִיד châsîdkind, pioustranslated this way 1 time of its 31 uses · Strong’s H2623Noun · Translated: saints 16, godly 9, faithful 3, Holy 1Full study and all 31 verses →
Jeremiah 3:12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐλεήμων eleḗmōnfull of pity, mercifultranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1655Adjective · Translated: merciful 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Hebrews 2:17 For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
- οἰκτίρμων oiktírmōncompassionate, mercifultranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3629Adjective · Translated: merciful 2, mercy 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
- ἔλεος éleospity, mercytranslated this way 1 time of its 26 uses · Strong’s G1656Noun · Translated: mercy 24, merciful 1, of 1Full study and all 26 verses →
Luke 1:54 He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful,
- ποιέω poiéōI do, maketranslated this way 1 time of its 544 uses · Strong’s G4160Verb · Translated: do 50, done 44, doing 40, made 34Full study and all 494 verses →
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.