Nephesh


Nephesh is a Biblical Hebrew word which occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The word refers to the aspects of sentience, and human beings and other animals are both described as having nephesh. Plants, as an example of live organisms, are not referred in the Bible as having nephesh. The term is literally "soul", although it is commonly rendered as "life" in English translations. One view is that nephesh relates to sentient being without the idea of life and that, rather than having a nephesh, a sentient creation of God is a nephesh. In the text is not that Adam was given a nephesh but that Adam "became a living nephesh." Nephesh when put with another word can detail aspects related to the concept of nephesh; with rûach it describes a part of mankind that is immaterial, like one's mind, emotions, will, intellect, personality, and conscience, as in.

Biblical use

The word nephesh occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Bible. The first four times nephesh is used in the Bible, it is used exclusively to describe animals: , , , . At nephesh is used as description of man.
parallels the words רוח and נפׁש : “In His hand is the life of every living thing and the spirit of every human being.”
The Hebrew term, nephesh chayyah is often translated "living soul". Chayyah alone is often translated living thing or animal.
Often nephesh is used as saving your life, nephesh then is referring to complete person's life as in Joshua 2:13; Isaiah 44:20; 1 Samuel 19:11; Psalm 6:5; 49:15; 72:13.
In Greek the word ψυχή is the closest equivalent to the Hebrew nephesh. In its turn, the Latin word for ψυχή is anima, etymon of the word animal.