נָחַם

And he named him Noah, saying, “May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed.”

And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death.

When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.

All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.

Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, “If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.

So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.

And the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites, and said, “Today a tribe is cut off from Israel.

The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.

“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.

Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites,

…the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. So she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved the child

And King David longed to go to Absalom, for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death.

But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

Their father Ephraim mourned for many days, and his relatives came to comfort him.

And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to console Hanun concerning his father. But when David’s servants arrived in the land of the Ammonites to console him,

…the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Have not his servants come to you to explore the land, spy it out, and overthrow it?”

Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.

So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.

You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.

In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.

Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.

And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

I remember Your judgments of old, O LORD, and in them I find comfort.

May Your loving devotion comfort me, I pray, according to Your promise to Your servant.

My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”