"Repent")¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT                    LXX (Greek OT)              Greek NT
───────────                  ───────────────             ────────
נָחַם (nâcham)           →  μεταμέλομαι (metamellomai) →  μεταμέλομαι (metamellomai)
H5162, 100 OT verses         rare (~2x; Ps 109:4 [=110:4])  G3338, 5 NT verses
"sigh, be sorry, relent,     primary LXX equivalents:        "regret, care
 comfort, repent"             παρακαλέω, μετανοέω            afterwards"

Primary LXX renderings of nacham are παρακαλέω (G3870, comfort) — 52x — and μετανοέω (G3340, change mind / repent) — 14x. μεταμέλομαι (G3338) is a secondary bridge; its importance is disproportionate to frequency because the LXX used it at Psalm 109:4 (MT 110:4), the verse cited verbatim at Hebrews 7:21.

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	POS	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H5162	נָחַם (nâcham)	verb	100 verses (108 forms)	sigh, be sorry, relent, comfort, console, repent
H5164	נֹחַם (nocham)	masc. noun	1	repentance, sorrow (Hos 13:14)
H5165	נֶחָמָה (nechamah)	fem. noun	2	comfort
H5150	נִחוּם (nichuwm)	masc. noun	3	comfort, compassion

Stem range: nacham appears in Niphal ("be sorry, relent, repent"), Piel ("comfort"), Pual ("be comforted"), and Hithpael ("be comforted, ease oneself, avenge oneself"). Translation depends heavily on stem.

Key OT passages: - Gen 6:6 — "And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (Niphal; divine relenting in grief) - Num 23:19 — "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent." (programmatic denial) - 1 Sam 15:29 — "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." (same Niphal form, same denial) - 1 Sam 15:11, 35 — "It repenteth me that I have set up Saul" / "the LORD repented that he had made Saul king" (same chapter affirms what 15:29 denies — framing question: two senses of nacham) - Ps 110:4 — "The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." (Niphal negated + oath) - Jer 18:8, 10 — "I will repent of the evil... I will repent of the good" (conditional relenting tied to human repentance) - Joel 2:13 — "slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil" (character formula) - Jon 3:9–10; 4:2 — "God repented of the evil... he is a gracious God... and repentest thee of the evil" (same character formula cited back at YHWH)

LXX Bridge¶

H5162 nacham → Greek (LXX renderings, ranked by co-occurrence and PMI)¶

Greek	Word (Translit)	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
G3870	παρακαλέω (parakaleō)	52	28.53	Primary — covers Piel "comfort" and Hithpael "be comforted" (majority Isaiah/Jeremiah)
G3340	μετανοέω (metanoeō)	14	20.21	Primary for "repent" sense — used at 1 Sam 15:29, Joel 2:13, Amos 7:3, 7:6, Jon 3:9, 3:10, 4:2, Jer 18:8, Jer 18:10, etc.
G2549	κακία (kakia)	8	9.00	Noun co-occurrence — "the evil" of which God relents
G3973	παύω (pauō)	6	8.91	"cease, stop" — alternative for relenting/desisting
G3996	πενθέω (pentheō)	5	8.46	"mourn" — for grief/lament contexts
G2556	κακός (kakos)	10	7.49	Adjective co-occurrence — same "evil" pattern
G1653	ἐλεέω (eleeō)	5	6.73	"have mercy" — overlaps with consolation
G447	ἀνίημι (aniēmi)	3	6.11	"let go, release"
G3338	μεταμέλομαι (metamellomai)	rare (~2x)	(secondary)	Not in top co-occurrence, but used at Psa 109:4 LXX (= MT 110:4) and 1 Sam 15:29 in some witnesses — the load-bearing bridge for Hebrews 7:21

G3338 metamellomai ← Hebrew (reverse map)¶

The search_strongs.py --hebrew-source G3338 tool returns no systematic Hebrew source — confirming that metamellomai is not a standardized LXX equivalent for any single Hebrew word. Its OT footprint in Rahlfs is ~2 verses, but one of them is Psalm 109:4 — the verse the author of Hebrews quotes.

Semantic shift in translation: The LXX splits nacham into two Greek verbs along a clear semantic fault line: - παρακαλέω when the sense is console / comfort (Piel, Pual, Hithpael of interpersonal comfort) - μετανοέω when the sense is change of mind / relent (Niphal of divine or human relenting) - μεταμέλομαι when the sense is regret / care afterwards — a narrower, more emotional "be sorry for what I did" nuance. The LXX translator of Psalm 109:4 chose this because the oath context requires the nuance "will not have afterward-regret / will not take it back," not merely "will not change mind." NT Hebrews preserves that exact choice.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	POS	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G3338	μεταμέλομαι (metamellomai)	verb	5 verses (6 forms)	regret, care afterwards, be sorry
G3340	μετανοέω (metanoeō)	verb	34	change one's mind, repent
G3341	μετάνοια (metanoia)	fem. noun	22	repentance, change of mind
G278	ἀμεταμέλητος (ametamelētos)	adj.	2	not to be repented of, without regret (Rom 11:29; 2 Cor 7:10)

NT distribution of G3338¶

Verse	Form	Subject	Sense
Matt 21:29	aor. pass. ptc.	son in parable	regret + course reversal (positive)
Matt 21:32	aor. pass.	hearers of John	failed to regret + believe (negative)
Matt 27:3	aor. pass. ptc.	Judas	regret without salvation
2 Cor 7:8 (×2)	pres. mid. / impf. mid.	Paul	"I do not regret, though I did regret"
Heb 7:21	fut. pass.	YHWH (quoting Ps 110:4 LXX)	"will not regret / take back" the oath

Key NT passages: - Heb 7:21 — "The Lord sware and will not repent (οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται), Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Direct LXX quotation of Ps 109:4. - Matt 27:3 — "Judas… when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself (μεταμεληθεὶς)" — emotional regret distinct from saving μετάνοια. - 2 Cor 7:8–10 — Paul deliberately contrasts μεταμέλομαι (regret, v. 8) with μετάνοια (repentance unto salvation, v. 10) — "godly sorrow worketh repentance (μετάνοιαν) to salvation not to be repented of (ἀμεταμέλητον)." One passage, both words, explicit contrast.

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word (Chain)	Significance
Heb 7:21	Psa 110:4 (LXX 109:4)	nacham (H5162) → metamellomai (G3338)	The load-bearing verse: God's oath-guaranteed Melchizedek priesthood is proven irrevocable because He "will not μεταμεληθήσεται" — i.e., will not have afterward-regret. The writer leans on the Greek verb's narrow "take-back" nuance to argue the priesthood's permanence.
Heb 6:17–18 (alluding)	Num 23:19 + Ps 110:4	nacham → metanoeō/metamellomai	"two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie" — the "God is not a man that he should repent" tradition feeds the oath argument.
Rom 11:29 (cognate)	echoes Num 23:19 / 1 Sam 15:29	nacham → ἀμεταμέλητα (cognate of G3338)	"the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (ἀμεταμέλητα)" — same semantic field: God's commitments are not subject to afterward-regret.

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - The "God does not repent" tradition carries cleanly. Num 23:19 and 1 Sam 15:29 (MT: lo'-nacham) establish the axiom; Ps 110:4 applies it to an oath; Heb 7:21 cites that oath; Rom 11:29 restates the axiom with the adjective ἀμεταμέλητα. The Hebrew negation of nacham and the Greek negation of metamellomai serve the same theological function: divine fidelity cannot be withdrawn. - The emotional register of regret/being-sorry survives. nacham's root sense ("to sigh, breathe strongly, be moved") aligns with metamellomai's "care afterwards." Matt 27:3 (Judas) and Gen 6:6 (God grieved) occupy the same emotional-grief zone.

What shifts: - LXX splits what Hebrew fuses. One Hebrew verb nacham handles four distinct English senses (comfort / relent / regret / avenge). Greek resolves the ambiguity by selecting παρακαλέω, μετανοέω, or μεταμέλομαι depending on context. This splitting is usually theologically convenient but becomes load-bearing at Ps 110:4, where the translator's choice of μεταμέλομαι (not μετανοέω) gives Hebrews a narrower verb to exploit: "God does not take back an oath." - Hebrew paradox collapses into Greek precision. The famous tension of 1 Sam 15 (the LORD repents he made Saul king, v.11, 35 — AND the LORD does not repent, v. 29) uses the same Hebrew verb both ways, forcing the reader to reconcile. In LXX Greek (μετανοέω/μεταμέλομαι vs. the negated form) the paradox is dampened by lexical choice, though translators are not always consistent. - In the NT, μεταμέλομαι never means salvation-repentance. That role belongs exclusively to μετανοέω / μετάνοια (see WG-repent, TR-shuv-metanoeo). μεταμέλομαι in the NT is emotional regret (Judas, Matt 27:3) or course-correction short of faith (Matt 21:32) or Paul's literary "I was sorry / am not sorry" (2 Cor 7:8). Paul's explicit pairing in 2 Cor 7:10 formalizes the distinction: μετάνοια unto salvation is itself ἀμεταμέλητος — not subject to metamellomai-regret. The NT thus preserves the Septuagintal split and sharpens it. - Jer 18 / Joel 2:13 / Jon 3–4 use μετανοέω in LXX, not μεταμέλομαι. These are the classical "God relents" conditional-mercy passages; their LXX rendering uses μετανοέω, which is why the NT doctrine of divine responsiveness to repentance travels on the μετανοέω chain, while Heb 7:21's argument travels on the μεταμέλομαι chain.