biased towards collocation with חֶסֶד when God is agent; but this factor was certainly not a criterion for selecting the lexemes. A more plausible explanation is that there is an affinity between these items and חֶסֶד when it is used with God as agent, an affinity that results in חֶסֶד attracting these items to itself, or these items attracting חֶסֶד to themselves; or, alternatively, the fact that God is agent may produce the attraction between חֶסֶד and the other lexical items. The outstanding contribution