In the Bible, ḥesed signifies a bond of steadfast loyalty and kindness that defines a relationship’s enduring commitment. While the word is often rendered as “mercy” in the King James Version, it more accurately describes a “pact” requiring mutual fidelity between Israel and God. This bilateral bond is especially exemplified in the Book of Ruth and the Psalms, where human devotion mirrors the unbreakable nature of God’s covenant: even in moments of exile or despair, ḥesed offers a reassuring promise of God’s empathetic concern. In this interview, translator Robert Alter discusses the nuanced meanings of ḥesed in the Hebrew Bible.
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The Meaning of Ḥesed in the Bible
— Ḥesed is a “pact” of steadfast loyalty and kindness, representing a mutual relationship of commitment rather than a purely legalistic covenant.
What does the Hebrew word ḥesed mean?
Ḥesed is a tricky word to translate. It can mean something like “kindness,” and that is the equivalent I opted for in my translation quite consistently—though there may have been a few instances in which the context led me to choose a different English term.
But the Hebrew word also means “fidelity,” living up to a continuing commitment in a relationship. This sense is reinforced by the common hendiadys (two words for a single concept, such as “assault and battery”).
The King James Version represented it as “lovingkindness,” but I think “loving”—though a nice flourish—is off the mark.
It may have been influenced by the figural reading of the Old Testament as a prefiguration of the New, with Jesus’s love for humankind in mind.
It is often paired with brit, a term usually rendered as “covenant.”
Why didn’t you translate it as “covenant”?
I avoided translating it that way for three reasons:
- Style: As a Latinate, polysyllabic word, “covenant” betrays the stylistic compactness of the Hebrew.
- Context: In our own time, its secular use is restricted to legal contexts (e.g., contract language).
- Dogma: It is otherwise used in a fraught theological sense. This seemed misleading to me.
I opted for the monosyllabic “pact.”
The Hebrew carries the sense of a mutual agreement or commitment, as when David and Jonathan enter into a brit together.
This then carries over to humankind’s relationship with God.
How does brit (covenant) shed light on the meaning of ḥesed?
The relationship between these terms is central. While ḥesed implies empathetic consideration and generosity of action, its pairing with brit emphasizes remaining steadfast—persistently loyal—within that established relationship.
Ḥesed in Biblical Narratives
— Biblical authors use ḥesed to depict characters who exceed social expectations, mirroring the unbreakable bond between God and Israel.
How is ḥesed shown in the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz?
In the Book of Ruth, both meanings listed above come into play:
- Ruth exhibits ḥesed because she is steadfast in her loyalty to Naomi.
- But she also shows caring affection for her mother-in-law by going above and beyond what would be expected of a woman in her condition who has lost her husband.
What I want to stress is that ḥesed is essentially a term pertaining to human relationships that is extended to God’s relationship with Israel, and its meaning does not change.
God’s pact with Israel remains firmly in place, even when Israel is wayward.
It’s like a husband whose wife does something that gravely exasperates him—he continues to remember the binding marital bond and the affection that led him to enter that bond in the first place.
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How is ḥesed used in the Book of Psalms?
For this reason, the occurrence of the word in the Psalms strikes a reassuring note. In the psalms of supplication—where the speaker fears he is on the point of death—the remembrance of God’s ḥesed gives him hope, even turning the supplication into a psalm of thanksgiving.
This sense of the term is consistent through the different psalm genres.
As elsewhere, I render it as “kindness,” which is perhaps a kind of compromise for conveying its mutually complementing different meanings.
Hence, my translation of the end of Psalm 23:
Let but goodness and kindness pursue me
all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for many long days.
What do you think of the King James Version translating ḥesed as “mercy” in the Psalms?
The KJV “mercy” is off-target. The psalmist is expressing faith that God’s steadfast loyalty to him—His empathic concern—will persist.
My policy was to try to use the same English word for the same Hebrew word, unless the specific context made that unfeasible.
How is it used in Psalm 85?
The double meaning of the word is especially noticeable in Psalm 85. It is probably a psalm written in the Babylonian exile. The poet begs God to turn back from His wrath, which has been manifested in the bitter fate of exile.
The psalmist asks God to show His ḥesed to Israel as a sign that He still cares—demonstrating not only kindness but a firm, continued loyalty to His people.
Psalm 85 breaks out the two components of the expression in a kind of allegorical dance:
Kindness and truth have met, / justice and peace have kissed.
When the psalmist asks God to speak “peace to his people and to His faithful,” the word for “His faithful,” hasidav, is a clear cognate of ḥesed: the people remain God’s faithful, and He, on His part, should show faithfulness to them.
I suppose I could have conveyed this by translating ḥesed here as “faithfulness,” but that would have been poetically awkward given its three syllables. That might have given the impression that ḥesed here means something different from what it means elsewhere, which is not the case.
Another noun with which hesed is often joined is ’emet, “truth.” Ḥesed ve’emet joined together are a hendiadys—two words representing a single meaning.
I regularly translated the hendiadys as “steadfast loyalty.” But in Psalm 85:11, the two terms are broken apart to become agents in an allegory of the condition of perfect peace that will come to the land.
Giving the two components of the hendiadys their independence felt right—and perhaps revelatory—for this particular line of poetry.
All this illustrates that no translation is perfect.
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About the Scholar
Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world’s preeminent authorities on the literary artistry of the Old Testament. His monumental achievement, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, represents over two decades of work and was awarded the 2019 Charles Homer Haskins Prize for its unparalleled linguistic precision and poetic depth. By prioritizing the rhythmic and semantic nuances of the original Hebrew, Alter has redefined modern understanding of biblical narratives and poetic structures. His expertise in philology and literary analysis makes him a definitive voice on the complex theological and relational dimensions of terms like ḥesed.
Further Reading
Explore more From the Desk articles about translating and interpreting the Bible:
- Why Is Robert Alter ‘s Translation of the Hebrew Bible Unique?
- How Is Ḥesed Used in Isaiah?
- What Is the Meaning of the Akedah in Genesis 22?
- What Is a Study Bible?
- How Does Joseph Smith Use Hebrew in the Book of Abraham?
Hebrew Word Ḥesed
See what top scholars and publishers say about the use of ḥesed in scripture:
- What Is God’s Love Like? Explore the Hebrew Word Ḥesed (Bible Project)
- The Semantic Range of Ḥesed (Biblica)
- “How Excellent Is Thy Lovingkindness”: The Gospel Principle of Hesed (BYU Religious Studies Center)
- Biblical Hesed and the Nephite Covenant Culture (BYU Studies)
- The Meaning of Hesed in the Hebrew Bible: A New Inquiry (Wipf and Stock)
