סָלַח

ἀφίημι aphíēmi · G863 · to let go away, to dismiss, to leave

Greek ἀφίημι (aphíēmi, G863) serves as the standard LXX rendering of Hebrew סָלַח (çâlach, H5545) in contexts of divine forgiveness, with the Greek term's core sense of 'sending away/releasing' naturally capturing the Hebrew's sense of pardoning sin.

ἵλεως híleōs · G2436 · merciful, may it not happen

Greek ἵλεως emphasizes the propitious/gracious disposition that results from or enables forgiveness, whereas Hebrew סָלַח denotes the act of forgiving itself; the Greek term appears in contexts where divine mercy or graciousness is invoked (often in the Hebraistic idiom 'God be gracious/merciful'), making it a specialized register equivalent focused on the relational outcome rather than the transactional act.

Innocent002003003015

To forgive, pardon, or spare, used almost exclusively of God forgiving sin, as in the recurring prayer that the LORD would forgive His people's iniquity and rebellion.

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.