The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
Psalm 103:8

There is one word in this passage that really sticks out to me—compassion (or merciful, as rendered in other translations).  Twice in Psalm 103, we read that the Lord ‘is compassionate / merciful’ (verse 8) and in verse 13, it says that He “has compassion” (or mercy or pity).  I often find it so very helpful, when studying the Scriptures, to read a particular verse or passage in a number of different Bible versions.  It always brings about a more complete understanding… at least to me.  (Do you find that true, too?)  I would like to let you experience this in reference to this verse.  My go-to version for studying is always the Amplified Bible version; so I’ll start there…

• AMP
  The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness.
• NIV
  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
• NLT
  The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry, filled with unfailing love.
• ESV
  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
• NASB
  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness.
• KJV
  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
• HCSB
  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love.
• ISV
  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, patient, abundantly rich in gracious love.
• ASV
  Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness.
• DBT
  Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness.
• Webster’s
  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy.
• YLT
  Merciful and gracious is Jehovah, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy.

Each of these versions (and, of course, there are more!) communicate basically the same thing…but some add just a further bit of information or inflection.  After reading through these, I was left praising God Who is ‘compassionate and merciful and gracious’ and abundantly rich in steadfast, unfailing, in loving-kindness’!  How great is our God!!!

The Strong’s concordance uses the following words to biblically define ‘compassion/merciful’ as used in verse 8: “to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion”.  And listen to this tidbit of insight:  this particular word ‘compassionate’ (rachuwm, pronounced ‘rakh-oom’) is used only 13 times throughout the OT.  It is also one of the names by which Almighty God describes Himself; such as here in Deuteronomy 4:31:

For the Lord your God is a {rachuwm} merciful and compassionate God;
He will not fail you, nor destroy you,
nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

And here is the very first occurrence of this word {rachuwm) in the Bible.

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and merciful God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…”
Exodus 34:6

Almighty God declared Himself ‘…the compassionate and merciful God…’ during His encounter with Moses on Mount Sinai.  No doubt God had already proven Himself VERY compassionate, merciful, and gracious towards the children of Israel!  Remember this is the account where He allows Moses to redo the two tablets on which had been the commandments which God had written and given to Moses.  (Here’s a link to go read this passage.)  While Moses and Joshua were up on the mountain receiving God’s commands, the people had chosen to turn back to their idolatrous ways and had made a golden calf and were worshipping this idol.   Upon his return, Moses became so disgusted and angry with them that he threw the tablets on the ground and broke them to smithereens!  (NOT good!)  Moses pleaded with the Lord and interceded on behalf of the Israelites.  And ‘the compassionate and merciful God’ relented and gave them yet another chance to repent and obey.  This shows the magnitude of the Lord’s mercy, compassion, and grace!

So what does this mean to us…some 3,000+ years later?  It means everything…because God  does not, cannot, will not  change.  He is the same “…compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” as He was then.

For I, the LORD, do not change;
therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed…
Malachi 3:6

I pray that each of us would hold fast and cling to this truth, and give much praise to our great God Who is the God of compassion!

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Here is a link  if you would like to study this verse and the usage of ‘compassionate/merciful’ in describing the Lord God Who IS oh-so-very merciful and compassionate.