It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
— Lamentations 3:22 (KJV)
It is a beautiful verse. People quote it when they are going through hard times. They say, "God's mercies are new every morning." It brings comfort.
There is just one problem.
The word the King James translators rendered as "mercies" in that verse is not the Hebrew word for mercy. It is a different word entirely. A word that means something richer and stronger than anything the English word "mercy" can carry.
The Hebrew word is hesed (also often spelled as chesed).
And the average English reader has never been told what it means.
The Word That Got Lost
The Hebrew language has several words that we might translate as "love." Each one has its own meaning. Each one tells us something different about the kind of love being described.
There is ahava — the ordinary word for affection and love. There is dodim — romantic love, the kind between a husband and wife. There is rachum — mercy, compassion, the gut-level feeling you get when someone is suffering. The word rachum is related to the Hebrew word for "womb." It means the kind of love a mother feels for her child.
And then there is hesed.
When early English translators came to hesed, they did not know what to do with it. It did not fit neatly into any one English word. So they used different words depending on the verse. In the King James Version, you'll see replacements like this:
- Mercy (149 times)
- Kindness (40 times)
- Lovingkindness (30 times)
- Goodness (12 times)
Are some of the words they chose related to one another? Perhaps. But here is the real problem. The word they used most often — "mercy" — is not what hesed is.
The Chain of Translation
Here is what happened. When Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek about two centuries before Jesus, they had the same problem. There was no single Greek word that meant exactly what hesed means. They chose eleos, the Greek word for "mercy" or "compassion."
Centuries later, when Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he rendered eleos as misericordia — the Latin word for pity or mercy.
When the King James translators did their work in 1611, they translated misericordia into English as "mercy."
So the chain looks like this:
Hesed (Hebrew) → eleos (Greek) → misericordia (Latin) → "mercy" (English)
Through every link in that chain, the meaning of hesed became increasingly buried. At this point, the "mercy" we have now is two millennia removed, linguistically and theologically, from the hesed of the original Hebrew scriptures.
Before we go any further, let's see what difference this can make to our reading of scripture. Look again at the verse we've already mentioned.
It is of the LORD'S hesed that we are not consumed, because his rachamim fail not.
I've revealed the Hebrew words behind the KJV translation. This is one of the many instances where hesed is translated as mercy.
The problem? Hebrew already has a word for mercy. It is rachum. This verse contains both Hebrew words and the Hebrew text makes a clear distinction. But an English reader has no way of knowing that two different Hebrew words are sitting there, doing two different jobs.
God Almighty's mercy does not fail. But it is because of God's hesed that we are not consumed. God has mercy because of his hesed.
So What Does Hesed Actually Mean?
Imagine you make a promise to someone you love. You say, "I will never leave you. I will always be there for you. No matter what happens, I will not walk away."
Then imagine that person breaks your trust. They hurt you. They treat you badly. They forget about you.
And you stay anyway. Not because you feel compassionate in that moment. Not because you are a nice person. But because you made a promise, and your word means something. Your love is not just a feeling. It is a commitment.
That is hesed.
Hesed is the love that binds itself to another person in a relationship and refuses to let go. It is not a feeling that comes and goes. It is a decision that holds. It is dependable. It is loyal. It is the kind of love that says, "I am yours, and nothing will change that."
"It is not merely kindness, but dependable kindness. Not merely love, but loyal love. Not merely affection, but affection that has committed itself."
This is what God has towards you. Not just pity or compassion — those are real too, but they are not the main thing. The main thing is that God has bound himself to you with a promise, and he will not break it.
What Hesed Is Not
Most Christian traditions treat hesed the same as mercy, charity, or compassion — but there is a fundamental difference.
Love usually refers to an affection or longing. Compassion means being sympathetic to one who is suffering. Charity is giving to one in need. Mercy is simply withholding punishment.
Hesed is none of those things. It describes a relationship, not any of the things that you might do in a relationship like it. It is the faithful execution of a commitment between two parties who are bound together. A husband owes hesed to his wife. A king owes hesed to his subjects. A covenant partner owes hesed to the one they are bound to.
This is why the translation chain from hesed to eleos to "mercy" matters so much. It took a word about binding relational obligation and turned it into a word only about excusing our shortcomings. The difference is not minor.
God's Defining Characteristic
The most important verse about hesed in the entire Old Testament is Exodus 34:6.
Moses is on Mount Sinai. God has just given him the Ten Commandments. But while Moses is on the mountain, the people of Israel build a golden calf and worship it. God is furious. Moses breaks the tablets. There is a crisis.
Then Moses asks to see God's glory. And God passes before him and proclaims his name:
The LORD, the LORD God, merciful (*rachum*) and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness (*hesed*) and truth (*emeth*).
— Exodus 34:6 (KJV)
Let me give you a more accurate translation:
The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and overflowing with covenant loyalty and faithfulness.
This is the verse the Old Testament quotes more than any other. When the prophets wanted to remind Israel who God is, they reached for this verse. When the psalmists needed hope in times of despair, they quoted this verse. This is God's own self-description. This is how he wants to be known.
And at the center of it is the word hesed.
God says, "I am overflowing with a loyal, unshakable love. I am the one who keeps his promises. I am the one who will not let you go."
What God Wants From You
Now here is the part that changes everything.
The prophet Hosea was sent to a people who were going through the motions of religion. They offered their sacrifices. They celebrated their festivals. They did all the right things on the outside.
But on the inside, their hearts were far from God.
And God said something through Hosea that cuts to the heart of everything we have been talking about:
For I desire mercy (*hesed*), and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
— Hosea 6:6 (KJV)
Read it with the real meaning:
I desire your committed love and loyalty, not your religious rituals. I want you to know me, not just go through the motions.
God says: "Stop bringing me your offerings while your heart belongs to someone else. I do not want your religious performance. I want you. I want your loyalty. I want your commitment. I want the real thing."
This is the same God who described himself as "abundant in hesed" now saying, "That is what I want from you too."
The Story That Hesed Tells
The whole Old Testament is a hesed story.
God makes a covenant with Abraham. Abraham believes him. God makes a covenant with Israel at Sinai. They promise to obey. And then, over and over again, Israel breaks the covenant. They worship other gods. They ignore the prophets. They trust in foreign armies instead of trusting in God.
And over and over again, God brings them back.
Not because they deserve it. Not because they earned it. But because he made a promise. His hesed holds.
The book of Judges tells this story in a cycle that repeats seven times: Israel sins. God sends enemies to discipline them. Israel cries out. God raises a deliverer. Israel is saved. Then they sin again.
Why does God keep rescuing them? Because he is loyal. Because his hesed does not depend on their behavior. He committed himself to them, and he will not back out.
Lamentations 3:22 — the verse we started with — was written during the most devastating moment in Israel's history. Jerusalem had been destroyed. The people were taken into exile. Everything they had trusted in was gone.
And in that moment, the writer said: "It is only because of the LORD's hesed that we are not completely destroyed."
Not because of their goodness. Not because of their faithfulness. Because of God's.
The God who is abundant in hesed does not abandon his people even when they are being punished for their sins. The exile itself was an act of hesed — a loving discipline meant to bring them back, not to destroy them.
What This Changes
What difference does it make whether God abounds in hesed or in mercy? When you read the gospel accounts of Jesus — his Sermon on the Mount, his dialogues with Pharisees, his parables about the lost sheep and the prodigal son — ask yourself: is he trying to convince people that God is merciful and kind, or is he teaching people about hesed and about a God willing and able to fulfill a loving, binding commitment?
The Greeks who first translated hesed as eleos had a concept of mercy as pity toward those who deserve punishment, just as we do today. Is it any wonder that the New Testament, after we read about the life of Jesus, turns into a story about punishment avoidance?
Whether or not you've grown up in church, you've more than likely heard that God loves you. But even for the people most connected with church, somewhere deep down is the question: does he really love me, or is he just being merciful? That question exists because mercy alone leaves room for doubt. A God of mercy might forgive you, but you can never be sure.
Hesed leaves no room for that question. If God has bound himself to you in covenant loyalty, then his love is a promise he made and cannot break. Your security does not rest on your ability to keep your side of the relationship. It rests on God's ability to keep his. And he is "abundant in hesed." He has more than enough.
Mercy is God feeling compassion for you in your suffering. Hesed is God staying loyal to you even when you are the cause of your own suffering.
Mercy is God seeing your pain and reaching out to help. Hesed is God saying "you are mine" and meaning it forever.
One of these is a feeling. The other is who God is.
Regardless of what bible you use, find out what word (or words) it uses to translate hesed and be aware when you see those words. If you use an old or traditional translation, try reading "loving loyalty" where your bible says "mercy." You may find the whole book comes alive in a new way.
And it will change how you see the God who wrote it.