נֶפֶשׁ (Nephesh)

MEANINGSoul, life, the living being. Strong's H5315: 'properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality'. The whole living person, not a ghost inside a body.

GRAMMARH5315. In Genesis 2:7 man does not receive a nephesh; he 'became a living soul' when God breathed into him.

SIGNIFICANCEThe word covers life itself ('the life [nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood,' Lev 17:11), the seat of desire and emotion ('my soul thirsteth for God,' Ps 42:2), and the person as a whole. It teaches that man is a unity, body and breath and life together, which is why the biblical hope is not escape from the body but the resurrection of it.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESGenesis 2:7 (man became a living soul); Leviticus 17:11 (the life of the flesh is in the blood); Psalm 42:2 (my soul thirsteth for God).

CROSS-REFERENCESצֶלֶם / דְּמוּת tselem / demut · /answers/nephesh