Relent (נָחַם)

Nacham (נָחַם) is often translated as “comfort”, “sorry”, “relent”, “repent”, “moved with pity”, or “grieved”, making it difficult to understand its true meaning. The basic meaning of נָחַם is “to relent”; however, in context it can also express “to console,” since by the nature of relenting one concedes from his distress.

The first occurrence of נָחַם (nacham) in Scripture is when Lamech named his son Noah, which is a form of נָחַם (nacham), meaning, “one who brings comfort,” Genesis 5:29. The birth of a son brought comfort to his parents because they would be able to relent from their work, having an additional hand to assist.

In Genesis 6:6, after seeing that mankind had rejected good and only goes after wrong all day long, for even every formation of the intent of his heart only sought after evil, God determines to destroy these wicked humans. Although many of our translations use the word “sorry” or “regret”, neither of these actually expresses the meaning of נָחַם (nacham), and both imply something about God that is not true. God did not change His mind, or feel regret, concerning creating humans; instead, He relented from striving with humans because of their wickedness. God did not forget His word to Adam, Eve, and the serpent. Due to the wickedness of these humans, God chose to destroy them to stop their evil ways. However, He saved eight souls, allowing humanity to continue and His word to be fulfilled. Genesis 6:6-7 show us that wickedness is very repulsive to God and that He will only permit it to go so far before bringing judgment. To ensure the wickedness of humans would not again get to the point that it was […]