חָמַל chamal

Hebrew word for “to spare” · Strong’s H2550 · used 41 times in 40 verses

Explore it in the Word Atlas

Meaning

(Qal) to spare, pity, have compassion on

How it is translated

Glosses given for chamal in context, with how often each is used:

• will show pity 8
• had compassion 7
• will have compassion 4
• spared 2
• showed pity 2
• has compassion 2
• spare 2
• has spared 2
• have spared 2
• will spare 1
• must have compassion 1
• have had compassion 1

Where it is used

Also in 3 more books.

Chapters where it is used most

1 Samuel 15 (3), Lamentations 2 (3), 2 Samuel 12 (2), 2 Chronicles 36 (2), Ezekiel 7 (2), Ezekiel 9 (2), Zechariah 11 (2), Exodus 2 (1), Deuteronomy 13 (1), 1 Samuel 23 (1)

Forms

• חמל 6
• יחמל 6
• יחמול 5
• אחמול 5
• ויחמל 4
• תחמלו 3
• תחמל 2
• חמלת 2
• אחמל 2
• ותחמל 1

Words used with it

Words that share verses with chamal more often than their overall frequency would suggest:

• חוּס chus “to pity” 10
• עַיִן ayin “eye” 8
• הָרַג harag “to kill” 5
• חָרַם charam “to devote/destroy” 4
• אֲנִי ani “I” 6
• בָּחוּר bachur “youth” 3
• שָׁאוּל shaul “Saul” 4
• מֵיטָב metav “best” 2
• נְאֻם neum “utterance” 4
• תּוֹעֵבַה toevah “abomination” 3
• כִּבְשָׂה kivsah “ewe-lamb” 2
• נָכָה nakhah “to smite” 4

Key verses

The verses using chamal that are most connected by cross-references (King James Version):

• 1 Samuel 15:3 — Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and…
• 2 Chronicles 36:15 — And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling…
• 2 Chronicles 36:17 — Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon…
• Jeremiah 21:7 — And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence,…
• Lamentations 2:2 — The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he…
• Lamentations 2:21 — The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger;…
• Ezekiel 5:11 — Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations,…
• Ezekiel 7:4 — And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee:…
• Ezekiel 8:18 — Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear…
• Ezekiel 9:5 — And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
• Zechariah 11:6 — For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of…
• Malachi 3:17 — And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

See all 40 verses in the Word Atlas

Hebrew and Greek text, tagging, glosses and lexicon definitions: STEPBible.org, Tyndale House Cambridge (TAHOT, TAGNT, TBESH, TBESG; CC BY 4.0), adapted. Counts follow King James verse numbering; a word counts each time it is written.