. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Etymologically the verb for ‘comfort’ (nḥm) suggests breathing deeply or panting (cf Arabic naḥama), so that the piel might imply ‘cause to draw a deep breath of relief’,1 but there is little indication here or elsewhere in the OT that people who used the verb were aware of this. N. H. Snaith more plausibly suggests that the verb means ‘to bring about a change of attitude’ (the niphal means ‘repent’).2 In passages such as 49:13; 51:3; 52:9 the word