The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
The English word compassion is a Latin compound meaning to have passion with, together, and completely.
In modern English passion is any strong emotion, especially associated with sexual feeling. The Latin is derived from the Greek pathos which is any experience or emotion, but especially of suffering.
The shift in tone from suffering to sexuality strikes me as reflective of a shift in cultural preoccupation.
The Hebrew from which this Greek-Latin-English complex unfolds is רחם or racham. Prior to Isaiah scriptural use of racham is infrequent. In Isaiah it is a divine attitude or action that suggests mercy, pity, and common cause.
I am in need of your compassion dear God.
Psalm 145
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