What the lexicon says. σπλάγχνον (splanchnon), almost always plural in the New Testament, is defined as "the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, etc.; Lat. viscera)", and then "Metaphorical, of the seat of the feelings and of the feelings themselves (in Gk. poets, of anger, anxiety, etc.), the heart, affections". Abbott-Smith notes that "the characteristic LXX and NT reference of the word to feelings of kindness, benevolence and pity" is also found in the everyday papyri. Strong's: "An intestine (plural); figuratively, pity or sympathy." It is in 11 verses.
One Greek word, three English renderings. The KJV keeps the organs: "how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:8, KJV). The ASV prints "how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:8, ASV), and the BSB "how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:8, BSB). The tagged word is G4698 in each. The same happens at Colossians 3:12, where the KJV has "bowels of mercies" and the ASV "a heart of compassion", and at Luke 1:78, where the interlinear glosses the word "[the] affections" and the ASV, BSB and KJV all print "tender mercy".
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And it connects back to the Hebrew. Abbott-Smith's entry records that in the Septuagint this word renders רַחַם, the womb word of. Both languages build the vocabulary of compassion out of the body.
Sources: Philippians 1:8 (KJV, ASV, BSB); Colossians 3:12 (KJV and ASV); Luke 1:78; TBESG entry G4698 (Abbott-Smith); Strong's Greek Dictionary (1890), entry G4698.
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