In finding no “real meaning” in the word “mercy”, Steve Wilson is not alone (Letters, 16 January). The problem is essentially one of translation. Christianity rests on Hebrew concepts, particularly the God who commits himself without reservation to his errant people, however badly they behave. The Hebrew word used to express this is chesed, variously translated in English as “loving kindness”, “covenant love”, “love” or, least helpfully in my view, “mercy”. This word is parallel to the common Latin use of misericordia for chesed. Like Mr Wilson, I feel this is not “a meaningful contemporary understanding” of the concept it seeks to convey.   Interestingly, there are links between chesed and &ldqu