13:34a mercies, 13:35f gracious one: 'Mercies' and 'gracious one' (Hosios) are the same word, only singular and plural. It may, and sometimes does, mean 'holy,' but is not the regular word for it, which is Hagios: here it answers to chasid in Hebrew, which is contrasted in Ps. 89:19 with 'holy' (kadosh), which is applied to Jehovah (ver. 18). The beginning of the psalm speaks of the mercies (chasadim) or gracious ways of the Lord, and then in ver. 19 of that One in whom these graces or mercies are centred and conveyed, the Christ, to whom the apostle here applies it. The word chesed is generally 'grace' and 'loving-kindness' in God; chasid, 'pious,' 'gracious' applied to men, and 'merciful,' 'holy' to God: see Heb. 7:26.