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נֶפֶשׁ

𐤍𐤐𐤔

nephesh

H5315 noun

SILEX Entry

Definition

The animate self; a living being with breath; the seat of life or vitality in animals and humans. In the Hebrew Bible, 'nephesh' refers to living creatures, the essential self or person, appetite, desire, and occasionally the seat of emotions or consciousness. It can indicate the life that animates a body, a specific individual, or one's being in a holistic sense. Unlike later concepts of an immortal soul distinct from the body, 'nephesh' primarily expresses the living, breathing person or animal, often rendered as 'life', 'person', or 'being.'

Semantic Range

living being, person, self, life, appetite, desire, creature, seat of emotions, corpse (in idiom), breath

Root / Etymology

From the root נָפַשׁ (nafash), meaning 'to breathe' or 'to rest.' 'Nephesh' originally signifies that which breathes, underscoring the connection to breath or vitality as life.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In early biblical texts, 'nephesh' commonly denotes a living, breathing creature—human or animal—rather than an immaterial soul. It is applied to human beings (Genesis 2:7), animals (Genesis 1:20), and even inanimate things by extension (Proverbs 21:10, 'appetite'). During the monarchic and exilic periods, 'nephesh' expands semantically to suggest the self, personal identity, or one's being. In post-exilic literature, 'nephesh' occasionally assumes more abstract or individualistic senses, but never fully aligns with the later Hellenistic concept of 'soul' as a separable spiritual entity. English translations often render 'nephesh' as 'soul,' 'life,' 'person,' or 'self,' but each only partially captures its meaning, which is context-dependent. The term never denotes an immortal soul distinct from the body in the Hebrew Bible. Comparable words in related Semitic languages (Akkadian 'napistu', Ugaritic 'npš') also primarily signify 'life' or 'person.'

Translation Consistency

primary "life" 555 occurrences

Nephesh primarily denotes the living, breathing self—the life or vital being—rather than a later, immortal ‘soul’ concept. "Life" is a natural, widely understandable English rendering that covers living being/person, the seat of vitality, and idiomatic uses (e.g. "lives," "for his life") without importing extra theological baggage. It is the most neutral, flexible single-word choice for consistent rendering across contexts.

Alternatives (202 occurrences):
"soul" (43x) "living-self" (39x) "living being" (25x) "person" (21x) "life-selves" (16x) "living beings" (11x) "lives" (8x) "persons" (5x) "breathing being" (4x) "lives of" (3x) "living-being" (3x) "fatally" (2x) "soul of" (2x) "appetite" (2x) "living selves" (2x) "living-selves" (2x) "willingness" (1x) "because of a soul" (1x) "herself" (1x) "being" (1x) "breathing selves" (1x) "living being of" (1x) "all" (1x) "living-beings of" (1x) "desire" (1x) "pleasure" (1x) "souls" (1x) "living self" (1x) "risk of our lives" (1x) "mind" (1x)

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from נָפַשׁ; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental); any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, [idiom] dead(-ly), desire, [idiom] (dis-) contented, [idiom] fish, ghost, [phrase] greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, [idiom] jeopardy of) life ([idiom] in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, [phrase] slay, soul, [phrase] tablet, they, thing, ([idiom] she) will, [idiom] would have it.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

נפשׁ (n-p-sh) — breathing, vitality, living being, animate self

Root נפשׁ to breathe, to rest
Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H5300 נְפוּשְׁסִים Nephushesim
H5305 נָפִישׁ Naphish

Word Forms

63 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2 Occurrences
H5315-37 נַפְשִׁ֖/י nafeshi HNcbsc/Sp1cs my soul my living being my life 172
H5315-46 נֶ֣פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa soul breathing being life 115
H5315-38 נַפְשׁ֔/וֹ nafesho HNcbsc/Sp3ms his soul his living-self his life 85
H5315-33 נַפְשֶׁ֔/ךָ nafeshekha HNcbsc/Sp2ms your soul your living being your life 63
H5315-11 הַ/נֶּ֖פֶשׁ hanefesh HTd/Ncbsa the person the living being the living being 38
H5315-32 נַפְשָֽׁ/ם nafesham HNcbsc/Sp3mp their soul their living-self their living-self 36
H5315-30 נָֽפֶשׁ nafesh HNcbsa life breathing being life 25
H5315-62 וְ/נֶ֗פֶשׁ venefesh HC/Ncbsa and soul living being and life 22
H5315-31 נַפְשָׁ/הּ֙ nafeshah HNcbsc/Sp3fs her soul her living-being her life 17
H5315-41 נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵי/כֶ֔ם nafeshoteykhem HNcbpc/Sp2mp your souls your living-selves your life-selves 13

Occurrences in Scripture

757 occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2
H5315-46 Genesis 1:20 נֶ֣פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa of living creatures breathing being life
H5315-46 Genesis 1:21 נֶ֣פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa living creature breathing being life
H5315-46 Genesis 1:24 נֶ֤פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa living creatures breathing being life
H5315-46 Genesis 1:30 נֶ֣פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa breath breathing being life
H5315-28 Genesis 2:7 לְ/נֶ֥פֶשׁ lenefesh HR/Ncbsa a living to a living being to a life
H5315-46 Genesis 2:19 נֶ֥פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsa living creature breathing being life
H5315-05 Genesis 9:4 בְּ/נַפְשׁ֥/וֹ benafesho HR/Ncbsc/Sp3ms with its life in his living-self in his life
H5315-26 Genesis 9:5 לְ/נַפְשֹֽׁתֵי/כֶם֙ lenafeshoteykhem HR/Ncbpc/Sp2mp for the lives of you for your living selves for your life-selves
H5315-46 Genesis 9:5 נֶ֥פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsc the life breathing being life
H5315-46 Genesis 9:10 נֶ֤פֶשׁ nefesh HNcbsc living creature breathing being life
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