Ḥemlāh appears only 4 times in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 19:16; Isaiah 63:9; Jeremiah 15:5; 21:7) but represents an important concept: the kind of tender mercy that holds back a deserved blow. The root verb ḥāmal (H2550) means to spare, have compassion on, and appears more frequently. The word pictures the instinctive movement of one with power toward one in need — the decision to withhold destructive force. Notably, in Isaiah 63:9, 'the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy [ḥemlāh] he redeemed them.'
While ḥemlāh is rare, the concept saturates the Hebrew Bible. God's restraint — his withholding of deserved judgment — is a form of this compassion. When Saul 'spared' Agag and the best livestock (1 Samuel 15:9), the verb ḥāmal is used — ironically for the wrong exercise of mercy. In Ezekiel, God repeatedly says he will 'not spare' (lōʾ ḥāmal) in judgment, emphasizing the gravity of the situation. The deepest expression of ḥemlāh is the cross: God did not 'spare' his own Son (Romans 8:32 uses the Greek equivalent pheidomai) so that he might show mercy to humanity.