Chamar describes the action of boiling, fermenting, or churning — like water or wine in agitation. It can describe the redness of wine, the turmoil of troubled waters, or the internal churning of strong emotion. In Psalm 46:3, it describes mountains 'quaking' into the sea; in Lamentations 1:20, it describes bowels churning in grief. The related noun chomer (H2563) means clay or mortar — the red, heavy substance that is worked and shaped.
The turbulence of chamar appears in contexts of both natural chaos and deep human anguish. Psalm 46 — with its earthquakes and churning waters — ends with 'Be still and know that I am God.' The divine response to chamar (all that churning, red chaos) is stillness and sovereign calm. In Lamentations, the prophet's churning gut expresses the depth of covenant grief. God does not demand emotional flatness — He meets us in the tumult of chamar and speaks peace into it.