🔼The name Naham: Summary
- Meaning
- Consolation, Comfort
- Etymology
- From the verb נחם (naham), to be sorry or to comfort.
🔼The name Naham in the Bible
The name Naham occurs only once in the Bible, but in a scene that is rather confusing (1 Chronicles 4:19). It's not clear whether Naham is a brother of Hodiah or a sister of someone who's even more difficult to identify. Hence it's also not clear whether Naham was the father or the aunt of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. All major English translations in use today, however, deem Naham the sibling of Hodiah and the father of Keilah and Estemoah.
🔼Etymology of the name Naham
The name Naham comes from the verb נחם (naham), meaning to be sorry or compassionate:
נחם
The verb נחם (naham) basically means to be sorry. It may mean to have regret but also to have compassion and often to comfort and console whoever one is sorry for. This verb often describes God's attitude toward mankind.
Noun נחם (noham) means sorrow or repentance. Nouns נחום (nihum) and נחמה (nehama) mean comfort or compassion. Noun תנחום (tanhum) meaning consolation.
🔼Naham meaning
For a meaning of the name Naham, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Consolation. BDB Theological Dictionary proposes Comfort.