Chesed

"I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight." (Jeremiah 9:23)

Chesed (חֶסֶד‏) is a word that occurs in the Hebrew Bible. It is variously translated as "lovingkindness", "kindness", "goodness", "mercy" and "steadfast love".

Quotes

Hebrew Bible

• כִּי אִם־בְּזֹאת יִתְהַלֵּל הַמִּתְהַלֵּל הַשְׂכֵּל וְיָדֹעַ אוֹתִי כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה עֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה בָּאָרֶץ כִּי־בְאֵלֶּה חָפַצְתִּי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃
  • Jeremiah 9:23 (MT)
  • Translation:
    • But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
      • KJV translation

• כִּי חֶסֶד חָפַצְתִּי וְלֹא־זָבַח וְדַעַת אֱלֹהִים מֵעֹלוֹת׃
  • Hosea 6:6 (MT)
  • Translation:
    • For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
      • KJV translation

• הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם מַה־טּוֹב וּמָה־יְהֹוָה דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ כִּי אִם־עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶיךָ׃
  • Micah 6:8 (MT)
  • Translation:
    • He has told you, O man, what is good;
        and what does the Lord require of you
      but to do justice, and to love kindness,
        and to walk humbly with your God?
      • ESV translation

• חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת אַל־יַעַזְבֻךָ קׇשְׁרֵם עַל־גַּרְגְּרוֹתֶיךָ כׇּתְבֵם עַל־לוּחַ לִבֶּךָ׃
  • Proverbs 3:3 (MT)
  • Translation:
    • Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart.
      • KJV translation

New Testament

• Εἰ δὲ ἐγνώκειτε τί ἐστιν· Ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν, οὐκ ἂν κατεδικάσατε τοὺς ἀναιτίους.
  • Matthew 12:7 (SBL)
  • Translation:
    • But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
      • KJV translation

Commentary

"Miles Coverdale, a sixteenth-century Bible translator in England ... felt compelled to coin a new word to describe it: loving-kindness." (Rachel Held Evans: Wholehearted Faith)

• Chesed is a covenantal love, a profound and committed and long-term love, a kind love—but not a romantic love. Among people, it can take the form of charity; from God to human, chesed has qualities of mercy, of grace, and of long-suffering. This kind of love so confounded Miles Coverdale, a sixteenth-century Bible translator in England, that as he worked to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into English, he felt compelled to coin a new word to describe it: loving-kindness.
  • Rachel Held Evans: Wholehearted Faith, ch. 5, "Thick Skin, Tender Heart". HarperCollins (2021). ISBN 978-0-06-289447-2.

• God is described over two hundred times in the Old Testament as being חסד‎ "hesed/chesed," a quality God also desires from us: "For I delight in loyalty [hesed] rather than sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6). The Hebrew word hesed is translated as "devoted," "faithful," and "unchanging love."
  • Jim Wilder: Renovated: God, Dallas Willard, and the Church That Transforms, ch. 1, "Salvation Is a New Attachment". Shepherd's House (2020). ISBN 978-1-64158-167-7.

See also

• Agape
• Kindness
• Mercy