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Nephesh

Nephesh

Overview
The only semantic domain of the Biblical
Bible
The Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...

 soul in the Old Testament
Old Testament
In Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...

 is the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...

 word nephesh (נפש), which literally means the "complete life of a being" though it is usually used in the sense of "living being" (breathing creature). Psyche is the equivalent New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...

 Greek
Greek language
Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...

 word from which the English word soul is only translated. In the Greek Septuagint
Septuagint
The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...

 nephesh is mostly translated as psyche .

The New Testament follows the terminology of the Septuagint, and thus uses the word psyche with the Hebrew semantic domain and not the Greek , that is, an invisible power (or even more, for Platonists
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...

, immortal and immaterial) that gives life and motion to the body and is responsible for its attributes.
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Encyclopedia
The only semantic domain of the Biblical
Bible
The Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...

 soul in the Old Testament
Old Testament
In Christianity, the Old Testament is the collection of books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions. In the Eastern Orthodox Church the comparable texts are known as the Septuagint, from the...

 is the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...

 word nephesh (נפש), which literally means the "complete life of a being" though it is usually used in the sense of "living being" (breathing creature). Psyche is the equivalent New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...

 Greek
Greek language
Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...

 word from which the English word soul is only translated. In the Greek Septuagint
Septuagint
The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...

 nephesh is mostly translated as psyche .

The New Testament follows the terminology of the Septuagint, and thus uses the word psyche with the Hebrew semantic domain and not the Greek , that is, an invisible power (or even more, for Platonists
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...

, immortal and immaterial) that gives life and motion to the body and is responsible for its attributes. The concept common today of an immaterial soul separate from and surviving the body is not found in ancient Hebrew beliefs

Nephesh is applied to humans, lower animals, corpses and to God Almighty.

Etymology


The word soul is translated only from the Hebrew word nephesh in the NIV Old Testament (nephesh appears 750 times in 683 verses) and only from psyche in the New testament (psyche appears 104 times in 95 verses). Nephesh is also translated into 131 other English words and phrases in the NIV Old Testament:
  • PERSON / BEING -- life, lives, as surely as live, alive, keep themselves alive, soul, souls, living soul, being, person, people, man, creatures, creature, spirit, body, breath, heart, hearts, heart's, hearts', lifeblood, mind, minds, thoughts, neck, throats, members.
  • PRONOUNS -- all, another, anyone, everyone, he, herself, him, himself, I, me, my, myself, one, ourselves, she, someone, them, themselves, these, they, thing, those, us, we, you, yourself, yourselves.
  • FEELINGS -- affection, appetite, appetites, craved, craving, desire, desires, discontented, earnest, earnestness, faint, feel, fierce, given to gluttony, greed, greedy man, hot_tempered, how it feels, hunger, hungry, in anguish, needs, pleased, relish, thirst, thirsty, wanted, weary, wished, wishes, zeal.
  • DEATH -- breathe last, breathed her last, corpse, dead, dead body, death, die, dying, kill, kills, made a fatal mistake, mortal, murders, takes life, wait to kill, wanted to kill.
  • MISC -- be a willing party, closest friend, completely, cost, counting on, courage, descendants, enemies, guilt of murder, his own, impatient, in all, its own, just what wanted, kidnapping, livelihood, long, member, none, perfume, personal vows, plunder, slave, slaves, stouthearted, that, the flock, threatened, willing.
  • UNTRANSLATED -- 43 times

Biblical definition of nephesh


Genesis 2:7
  • The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being [nephesh]. NIV
  • And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [nephesh]. KJV


Nephesh recipe:
  1. Take one physical body
  2. Insert the breath of life into the body
  3. Results: A living, breathing, nephesh


This word usually designates the person as a whole or its physical life.

Characteristics of nephesh


A short selection.
  • Hunger: On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone [nephesh] to eat—that is all you may do.
  • Thirst: Like cold water to a weary soul [nephesh] is good news from a distant land.
  • Emotions:
    • Affection: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your [nephesh] affection.
    • Distress: We saw how distressed he [nephesh] was when he pleaded with us for his life.
    • Yearn: My soul [nephesh] yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
    • Weep: But if you do not listen, I [nephesh] will weep in secret because of your pride;
    • Love: I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart [nephesh] loves.
    • Delight: I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul [nephesh] rejoices in my God.
    • Anger: And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, [so] that his soul [nephesh] was vexed unto death;
    • Grief: Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your [nephesh] heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
  • Sin: A person [nephesh] sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge.


A nephesh, therefore, has a physical body, is breathing and alive, gets hungry, thirsty, angry, falls in love and is a sinner. A nephesh is a person.

Other nephesh


Human beings are not the only nephesh.
  • …Let the earth bring forth the living [chay] creature [nephesh] after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:
  • And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; … what Adam called every living [chay] creature [nephesh], that was the name thereof.
  • This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living [chay] creature [nephesh] that moveth in the waters, and of every creature [nephesh] that creepeth upon the earth.


Animals have a physical bodies. Animals breath and live. They get hungry and thirsty. They are living nephesh.

Summary


Nephesh is a being with a physical body, the breath of life, and has feelings. Not only are humans such beings but the Bible considers animals to also be living beings. We are all created, living beings.

Psyche = Nephesh



The New Testament psyche is the only Greek word from which the English word soul is translated and is the equivalent of the Hebrew word nephesh. In the Septuagint
Septuagint
The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...

 nephesh is mostly translated as psyche and, exceptionally, in the Book of Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book stands as the first in the Former Prophets covering the history of Israel from the possession of the Promised Land to the Babylonian Captivity.The book of Joshua contains a...

 as empneon (ἔνμπεον), that is "breathing being".

1 Corinthians 15:45
  • And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (psyche) ; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. KJV
  • So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being (psyche)"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. NIV

Psyche as living being

  • He answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul [psyche] and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
  • For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives [psyche], but to save them.
  • “for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls [psyche].
  • “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him [psyche] from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Summary


Since psyche is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew nephesh then a psyche is a living person with a physical body and is breathing.

Jesus came to save nephesh / psyche

  • Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
  • Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.* For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
  • The soul [nephesh] who sins is the one who will die.

Nephesh / psyche die

  • "Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me [nephesh] die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!"
  • Anyone who kills a person [nephesh] is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
  • Everyone [nephesh] in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed, and he burned up Hazor itself.
  • Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves [nephesh] from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.
  • For every living soul [nephesh] belongs to me, the father [nephesh] as well as the son [nephesh]—both alike belong to me. The soul [nephesh] who sins is the one who will die.

Immortality


The concept of an immaterial soul separate from and surviving the body is common today but was not found in ancient Hebrew beliefs. The word never means an immortal soul or an incorporeal part of the human being that can survive death of the body as the spirit of dead.

In Patristic thought, towards the end of the 2nd century, psyche was begun to be understood in a more Greek than a Hebrew way, contrasted with the body. By the 3rd century, with the influence of Origen
Origen
Origen was an early Christian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished of the early fathers of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Egyptian who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had...

, there was the establishing of the Roman Catholic tradition of the inherent immortality of the soul and its divine nature. Inherent immortality of the soul was accepted among western and eastern theologians throughout the middle ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...

, and after the Reformation, as evidenced by the Westminster Confession.

On the other hand, a number of modern Protestant scholars have adopted views similar to conditional immortality
Conditional immortality
In Christian theology, conditional immortality or conditionalism is a concept of special salvation in which, the gift of immortality is attached to belief in Jesus Christ....

, including Edward Fudge and Clark Pinnock
Clark Pinnock
Clark H. Pinnock is a Christian theologian, apologist and author. He is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at McMaster Divinity College.- Education and Career :...

; however the majority of adherents hold to the Catholic tradition.

In the last six decades, conditional immortality, or better "immortality by grace" , of the soul has also been widely accepted among Eastern Orthodox theologians, by returning to the views of the late 2nd century, where immortality was still considered as a gift granted with the value of Jesus' death and resurrection.

God and Immortality

  • Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
  • Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
  • God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.


Only God is immortal.

Man and Immortality

  • In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.
  • God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
  • Who has saved us and called us to a holy life... This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
  • In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory.“


Man must “seek” and “put on” immortality. Jesus, who alone is immortal, has destroyed death and gives immortality to mortal man. Neither immortal nor immortality appear in context with nephesh or psyche anywhere in the Bible.

Death of nephesh

  • By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
  • When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
  • And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit [breath] returns to God who gave it.


Death of a nephesh is the reverse of the creation of a nephesh.
  1. Start with a living physical being (nephesh).
  2. Remove the breath of life.
  3. Result: The dead physical body turns to dust.


A nephesh is a living physical body with the breath of life. A dead physical body without breath is not nephesh. Nephesh is no more. The breath of life returns to God who gave it.

Consciousness after death

  • Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
  • The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.


There is no consciousness after death.

Conclusion

  • Nephesh / psyche have a physical body and the breath of life.
  • We are nephesh / psyche when we are living beings.
  • Nephesh / psyche die.
  • There is no such thing as an immortal nephesh / psyche.
  • Nephesh / psyche cease to exist at death.
  • Nephesh / psyche is not conscious and knows nothing after death.


Thus the Biblical use of the English word soul (nephesh / psyche) is a living breathing person who is a sinner, subject to mortality unless God's gift of eternal life has been accepted. The Biblical soul is not immortal, and ceases to exist and is not conscious after the time of death. This Biblical understanding of soul is in contrast to the way soul
Soul
The soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...

 is commonly used in the English language.

Nephesh in the Companion Bible


E.W. Bullinger in his Companion Bible retrace the occurrences and translation of that word.

The usage of the word Nephesh by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God is the only guide to the true understanding of it. It will be seen that the word "soul", in its theological sense, does not cover all the ground, or properly represent the Hebrew word "Nephesh". The correct Latin word for the theological term "soul" (or Nephesh) is anima; and this is from the Greek anemos = air or breath, because it is this which keeps the whole in life and in being. The first occurrence of Nephesh is in Gen. 1:20, "the moving creature that hath life (Nephesh)".

Man, as an individual person


Nephesh is used of Man, as an individual person, in 53 passages, and is rendered in six different ways:
  1. "soul" Gen. 2:7; 12:5; 46:15, 18, 22, 25, 26, 27. Ex. 1:5; 12:4. Lev. 22:11. Ps. 25:20. Prov. 10:3; 11:25, 30; 14:25; 19:15; 22:23 (R.V. life); 25:25; 27:7. Jer. 38:16. Lam. 3:25. Ezek. 13:18, 20; 18:4 34
  2. "person" Gen. 14:21; 36:6 (R.V. souls). Ex. 16:16. Lev. 27:2. Num. 31:40, 46. Deut. 10:22. Jer. 43:6; 52:29, 30. Ezek. 16:5; 27:13. 14
  3. "persons" Num. 31:35. 1
  4. "any" Deut. 24:7. 1
  5. "man" 2Kings 12:4 1
  6. "and" 1Chron. 5:21 1
    • Not rendered Num. 31:35 (Lit. "and the soul of man...were 32,000 souls.") 1

Total = 53

Man, as possessing animal appetites and desires


Nephesh is used of Man, as possessing animal appetites and desires, in twenty-two passages, rendered in five different ways:
  1. "soul" Num. 11:6 (dried away). Deut. 12:15 (lusteth), 20 (longeth to eat flesh), 20 (lusteth after), 21 (lusteth); 14:26 (lusteth), 26 (desireth); 21:5 (loatheth). 1Sam. 2:16 (desireth). Job 6:7 (refused); 33:20 (abhorreth). Ps. 107:18 (abhorreth). Prov. 6:30 (hunger); 13:25 (satisfying). Isa. 29:8 (empty), 8 (hath appetite). Mic. 7:1 (desired...figs). 17
  2. "pleasure" Deut. 23:24. 1
  3. "lust" Ps. 78:18. 1
  4. "appetite" Prov. 23:2. Ecc. 6:7. 2
  5. "greedy" Isa. 56:11. 1

Total = 22

Man, as exercising mental faculties, and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions


Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising mental faculties, and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions, in 231 passages, and rendered in twenty different ways:
  1. "soul" Gen. 34:3 (clave), 8 (longeth); 42:21 (anguish); 49:6 (come not). Lev. 26:11 (not abhor), 15 (abhor), 30 (abhor), 43 (abhor). Num. 21:4 (discouraged). Deut. 4:9 (keep), 29 (seek); 6:5 (love); 10:12 (serve); 11:13 (love), 18 (lay up in); 13:3 (love); 26:16 (keep); 30:2 (return), 6 (love), 10 (turn). Josh. 22:5 (serve); 23:14 (know). Judg. 10:16 (Used of God) (grieved); 16:16 (vexed). 1Sam. 1:10 (bitterness of), 15 (poured out); 18:1 (knit with), 1 (loved as); 20:4 (desireth); 23:20 (desire); 30:6 (grieved). 2Sam. 5:8 (hated). 1Kings 2:4 (walk); 8:48 (return); 11:37 (desired). 2Kings 4:27 (vexed); 23:3 (keep), 25 (turned). 1Chron. 22:19 (seek). 2Chron. 6:38 (return); 15:12 (seek); 34:31 (keep). Job 3:20 (bitter); 7:11 (bitterness); 9:21 (know) (R.V. myself); 10:1 (weary), 1 (bitterness); 14:22 (mourn); 19:2 (vex); 21:25 (bitterness); 23:13 (Used of God) (desireth); 24:12 (wounded); 27:2 (vexed); 30:16 (poured out), 25 (grieved). Ps. 6:3 (sore vexed); 11:5 (Used of God) (hateth); 13:2 (take counsel); 19:7 (converting); 24:4 (not lifted up); 25:1 (lifted up), 13 (dwell at ease); 31:7 (in adversities), 9 (consumed with grief); 33:20 (waiteth); 34:2 (boast); 35:9 (be joyful); 42:1 (panteth), 2 (thirsteth), 4 (pour our), 5 (cast down), 6 (cast down), 11 (cast down); 43:5 (cast down); 44:25 (bowed down); 62:1 (waileth), 5 (wait); 63:1 (thirsteth), 5 (satisfied), 8 (followeth hard); 69:10 (chastened); 77:2 (refused comfort); 84:2 (longeth); 86:4 (rejoiced), 4 (lift up); 88:3 (full of troubles); 94:19 (delight); 103:1, 2, 22; 104:1, 35 (bless); 107:5 (fainted), 9 (satisfied), 9 (filled with goodness), 26 (melted); 116:7 (return to rest); 119:20 (longing), 25 (cleaveth unto the dust), 28 (melteth for heaviness), 81 (fainteth), 129 (keep), 167 (kept); 123:4 (filled with scorning); 130:5 (wait), 6 (waiteth); 131:2 (quieted); 138:3 (strengthened); 139:14 (knoweth); 143:6 (thirsteth), 8 (lifted up), 11 (bring out of trouble), 12 (afflict); 146:1 (praise). Prov. 2:10 (knowledge pleasant); 3:22 (be life to); 13:4 (desireth), 4 (made fat), 19; 16:24 (sweet to); 19:2 (without knowledge), 18 (spare) (R.V. heart); 21:10 (desireth); 22:25 (get a snare to); 24:14 (wisdom unto); 25:13 (refresheth); 29:17 (give delight). Ecc. 2:24 (enjoy good); 6:3 (not filled); 7:28 (seeketh). Song 1:7; 3:1, 2, 3, 4 (loveth); 5:6 (failed); 6:12 (Used of God) (made me like chariots). Isa. 1:14 (hateth); 26:8 (desire), 9 (desire); 32:6 (made empty); 38:15 (bitterness of); 42:1 (Used of God); 55:2 (delight); 58:10 (drawn out), 10 (afflicted), 11 (satisfied); 61:10 (joyful); 66:3 (delighteth). Jer. 4:31 (wearied); 5:9, 29 (avenged); 6:8 (depart), 16 (find rest); 9:9 (Used of God) (avenged); 12:7 (dearly beloved of); 13:17 (shall weep); 14:19 (loathed); 31:12 (watered), 14, 25 (satiated), 25 (sorrowful); 32:41 (Used of God) (whole); 50:19 (satisfied). Lam. 3:17 (removed), 20 (humbled), 24 (saith). Ezek. 7:19 (satisfied); 24:21 (pitieth). Jonah 2:7 (fainted). Hab. 2:4 (not upright). Zech. 11:8 (lothed), 8 (abhorred). 176
  2. "mind" Gen. 23:8 (your). Deut. 18:6 (desire); 28:65 (sorrow). 1Sam. 2:35 (Used of God). 2 Sam. 17:8 (chafed). 2Kings 9:15. 1Chron. 28:9 (willing). Jer. 15:1 (Used of God). Ezek. 23:17 (R.V. soul), 18 (Used of God) (R.V. soul), 18 (Used of God) (soul), 22 (R.V. soul), 28 (R.V. soul) (alienated); 24:25 (R.V. heart) (set); 36:5 (R.V. soul) (despiteful). 15
  3. "heart" Ex. 23:9. Lev. 26:16. Deut. 24:15. 1Sam. 2:23 (grieve). 2Sam. 3:21 (desireth). Ps. 10:3 (desire). Prov. 23:7 (R.V. himself); 28:25 (proud heart) (R.V. greedy spirit); 31:6 (heavy heart.) (R.V. bitter in soul). Jer. 42:20 (dissembled) (R.V. souls). Lam. 3:51 (affected) (R.V. soul). Ezek. 25:6 (rejoiced) (R.V. soul), 15 (despiteful) (R.V. soul); 27:31 (bitterness). Hos. 4:8 (set). 15
  4. "hearty" Prov. 27:9 (counsel). 1
  5. "will" Deut. 21:14 (she will). Ps. 27:12; 41:2. Ezek. 16:27. 4
  6. "desire" Ecc. 6:9. Jer. 22:27; 44:14. Mic. 7:3 (R.V. soul). Hab. 2:5. 5
  7. "pleasure" Ps. 105:22. Jer. 34:16. 2
  8. "lust" Ex. 15:9. 1
  9. "angry" Judg. 18:25. 1
  10. "discontented" 1Sam. 22:2. 1
  11. "thyself" Est. 4:13. 1
  12. "myself" Ps. 131:2. 1
  13. "he" Prov. 16:26 (R.V. appetite). 1
  14. "his own" Prov. 14:10 (R.V. its own). 1
  15. "Him" Prov. 6:16 (Used of God) 1
  16. "himself" Jon. 4:8. 1
  17. "herself" Isa. 5:14 (R.V. her desire). 1
  18. "yourselves" Jer. 37:9. 1
  19. "man" Isa. 49:7. 1
  20. "so would we have it" Ps. 35:25. 1

Total = 231

Man, as being "cut off" by God; and as being slain or killed by man


Nephesh is used of Man, (a) as being "cut off" by God; (b) and as being slain of killed by man, in fifty-four passages : and is rendered in eight different ways:

(a) Soul cut off by God, in twenty-two passages, and rendered:
  1. "soul" Gen. 17:14. Ex. 12:15, 19; 31:14. Lev. 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 17:10; 18:29; 19:8; 20:6; 22:3; 23:29, 30. Num. 9:13; 15:30, 31; 19:13, 20. Ezek. 18:4, 20. 22


(b) Slain or killed by man, in thirty-two passages, rendered in eight different ways :--
  1. "soul" Josh. 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 37, 39; 11:11. Jer. 2:34. Ezek. 13:19; 22:25, 27. 12
  2. "person" Deut. 27:25. Josh. 20:3, 9. 1Sam. 22:22. Prov. 28:17. Ezek. 17:17; 33:6. 7
  3. "any" Lev. 24:17. 1
  4. "any person" Num. 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30, 30. 5
  5. "him" Gen. 37:21. Deut. 19:6; 22:26. 3
  6. "mortally" Deut. 19:11. 1
  7. "life" 2Sam. 14:7. 1
  8. "thee" Jer. 40:14, 15. 2

Total = 54

Man as being mortal, subject to death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and delivered and life prolonged


Nephesh is used of Man as being mortal, subject to death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and delivered and life prolonged, in 243 passages, rendered in eleven different ways:
  1. "soul" Gen. 12:13; 19:20. Ex. 30:12, 15, 16. Lev. 17:11, 11 (R.V. life). Num. 16:38 (R.V. lives); 31:50. 1Sam. 24:11; 25:29, 29, 29; 26:21 (R.V. life). 2Sam. 4:9. 1Kings 1:29; 17:21, 22. Job 7:15; 27:8. Ps. 3:2; 6:4; 7:2, 5; 11:1; 17:13; 22:20, 29; 23:3; 25:20; 26:9; 33:19; 34:22; 35:3, 4, 12, 17; 40:14; 41:4; 49:8, 15; 54:3, 4; 55:18; 56:6, 13; 57:4; 59:3; 63:9; 66:9, 16; 69:1, 18; 70:2; 71:10, 13, 23; 72:13, 14; 74:19; 78:50; 86:2, 14; 88:14; 94:21; 97:10; 106:15; 109:20, 31; 116:4, 8; 119:109; 175; 120:2; 121:7; 124:4, 5, 7; 141:8; 142:4, 7; 143:3. Prov. 18:7; 24:12; 29:10. Isa. 3:9; 10:18; 44:20; 53:10, 11, 12; 55:3. Jer. 4:10; 20:13; 26:19; 38:17, 20; 44:7; 51:6 (R.V. life), 45 (R.V. yourselves). Lam. 1:11, 16, 19; 2:12; 3:58. Ezek. 3:19, 21; 13:18, 19; 14:14, 20; 18:27; 33:5, 9. Hos. 9:4 (R.V. appetite). Jon. 2:5. Hab. 2:10. 127
  2. "life, lives" Gen. 9:5, 5; 19:17, 19; 32:30; 35:18; 44:30, 30. Ex. 4:19; 21:23, 23, 30. Num. 35:31. Deut. 19:21, 21; 24:6. Josh. 2:13, 14; 9:24. Judg. 5:18; 9:17; 12:3; 18:25, 25. Ruth 4:15. 1Sam. 19:5, 11; 20:1; 22:23, 23; 23:15; 26:24, 24; 28:9, 21. 2Sam. 1:9; 4:8; 16:11; 18:13; 19:5, 5, 5, 5; 23:7. 1Kings 1:12, 12; 2:23; 3:11; 19:2, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14; 20:31, 39, 39, 42, 42. 2Kings 1:13, 13, 14; 7:7; 10:24, 24. 1Chron. 1:11. Est. 7:3, 7; 8:11; 9:16. Job 2:4, 6; 6:11 (R.V. be patient); 13:14; 31:39. Ps. 31:13; 38:12. Prov. 1:18, 19; 6:26; 7:23; 13:3, 8. Isa. 15:4 (R.V. soul); 43:4. Jer. 4:30; 11:16; 19:7, 9; 21:7, 9; 22:25; 34:20, 21; 38:2, 16; 39:18; 44:30, 40; 45:5; 46:26; 48:6; 49:37. Lam. 2:19; 5:9. Ezek. 32:10. Jon. 1:14; 4:3. 110
  3. "ghost" Job 11:20. Jer. 15:9. 2
  4. "person" 2Sam. 14:14 (R.V. life). 1
  5. "tablets" Isa. 3:20 (R.V. perfume boxes) (Heb. "houses of the soul" = boxes of scent for the nose). 1
  6. "deadly" Ps. 17:9 (Heb. "enemies against my Nephesh"). 1
  7. "himself" 1Kings 19:4. Amos 2:14, 15. 3
  8. "me" Num. 23:10. Judg. 16:30. 1Kings 20:32. 3
  9. "they" Job 36:14. 1
  10. "themselves" Isa. 47:14. 1
  11. "yourselves" Deut. 4:15. Josh. 23:11. 2

Total = 243

Man, as actually dead


Nephesh is used of man, as actually dead, in thirteen passages, and is rendered in three different ways:
  1. "the dead" Lev. 19:28; 21:1; 22:4. Num. 5:2; 6:11. 5
  2. "dead body" Num. 9:6, 7, 10. 3
  3. "body" Lev. 21:11. Num. 6:6; 19:11, 13. Hag. 2:13. 5

Total = 13

Soul in grave


Nephesh, in thirteen passages (all rendered "soul"), is spoken of as going to a place described by four different words, rendered as shown below:
  1. "sheol" = THE grave (as distinct from keber, A grave), gravedom (or the dominion of death), in five passages, rendered in this connection in two different ways :--
    1. "grave". Ps. 30:3 (R.V. "Sheol"); 89:48 (R.V. "Sheol", marg. grave). (Cf. Ps. 49:15). 2
    2. "hell". Ps. 16:10 (R.V. "Sheol"); 86:13 (marg. grave. R.V. "pit", marg. lowest Sheol). Prov. 23:14 (R.V. "Sheol", marg. the grave). 3
  2. "shachath" = a pit (for taking wild beasts); hence, a grave. The Septuagint and New Testament take it in the sense of corruption; but, if so, not implying putridity, but destruction. Occurs in six passages, and is rendered in two different ways :--
    1. "pit". Job 33:18, 28, 30. Ps. 35:7. Isa. 38:17. 5
    2. "grave". Job 33:22 (R.V. "pit"). 1
  3. "shuchah" = a deep pit (cf. all the occurrences, Prov. 22:14; 23:27. Jer. 2:6; 18:20, 22). In one passage only :--
    1. Pit. Jer. 18:20. 1
  4. "dumah" = silence. Ps. 94:17. 1

Total = 13