נֶהְפַּךְ לִבִּי (Nehpakh libbi)

MEANING'My heart recoils within me.' The divine pathos of Hosea 11:8. Nehpakh is Niphal of hafakh (to turn, overturn) --- reflexive, the heart turns itself. Libbi = my heart (lev + first person suffix).

GRAMMARNiphal perfect of הָפַךְ (hafakh) + prepositional phrase alai (within me/upon me). The Niphal is reflexive --- the heart turns involuntarily, cannot be suppressed. Paired with nikhm'ru nichumai (my compassions grow warm and tender --- from kamar, to grow warm with compassion) in the same verse.

SIGNIFICANCENehpakh libbi is Abraham Heschel's central text for the theology of divine pathos --- God's genuine emotional involvement with his people. The heart that recoils (nehpakh) and the compassions that grow warm (nikhm'ru) describe a God who cannot go through with abandonment because his interior moves against it. This is Thread 1 at its most intimate OT expression.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESHosea 11:8 (alone --- this exact construction appears only here).

CROSS-REFERENCESHosea 11:8 · Exodus 34:6 (rachum --- womb-compassion) · σπλαγχνίζομαι splanchnizomai (NT --- the father in Luke 15)