What Does Psalm 103:13 Mean?
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those in awe of him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.THE KEY
The LORD’s compassion comes from a word that also names the womb, carrying the closeness of kinship inside the verse.
THE MEANING
The LORD meets those who stand in awe of him with the tenderness a father has for his children. Awe and compassion belong together in this relationship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that awe of God requires distance: the verse holds reverence and fatherlike tenderness together.
THE ROOT
כְּרַחֵם
kəraḥēm
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ם
r-ḥ-m
To have compassion or show tender attachment.
“has compassion on” in this verse is kəraḥēm. The shared root with רֶחֶם (rechem), “womb,” and רַחֲמִים (raḥamim), “compassion,” gives the verb an echo of intimate, life-bearing tenderness. The verse places that tenderness in both a father’s care and the LORD’s regard.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: Womb
רֶחֶם
This branch links compassion with intimate, life-bearing care, deepening the father-and-child image.
raḥamim: Compassion, mercies
רַחֲמִים
This related noun names the tenderness expressed by the verse’s repeated verb.
יְרֵאָיו
yəre’aw
GROWS FROM
י־ר־א
y-r-ʾ
To fear or revere; when directed toward God, to stand in awe.
The root can express awe toward God, holding reverence alongside compassion. That pairing makes the relationship both deeply regarded and tender.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: Awe, reverence, fear
יִרְאָה
This noun shows the reverent quality of the relationship described in the verse.
nora: Awe-inspiring, fearsome
נוֹרָא
This related form shows the root’s range of awe and fear, while the verse itself places that regard beside compassion.
THE PATTERN
Compassion takes the shape of intimate kinship, moving toward the vulnerable as one’s own.
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even they may forget, but I will not forget you.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.THE THREAD
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even they may forget, but I will not forget you.Isaiah’s “compassion” and the Psalm’s “pitieth” come from the same Hebrew root, ר־ח־ם (r-ḥ-m). Isaiah places that compassion beside “the son of her womb,” making the kinship carried by the Psalm’s father-child image even clearer.
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