In the Bible your soul is your life, your very self: “the man became a living being.” It thirsts for God and praises him. In Genesis 2:7, the Hebrew word is nephesh (H5315): a living being: life, the self, the whole person. English Bibles put it as ‘soul’, ‘life’, ‘person’ or ‘self’, depending on the verse. Strong’s says it first...
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind the word “being” in this verse is the Hebrew word nephesh (said NEH-fesh).
It means a living being: life, the self, the whole person. English Bibles put it as ‘soul’, ‘life’, ‘person’ or ‘self’, depending on the verse. Strong’s says it first means ‘a breathing creature’.
This form, lenephesh, has the small word le, ‘into’ or ‘as’, joined to the front: word for word the man ‘became into a living nephesh’, the Hebrew way of saying what he became. The word after it, chayah, means ‘living’.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘soul’ 194 times, ‘life’ 122 times and ‘person’ 25 times, and often simply ‘himself’ or ‘yourself’. It is even used of animals: “Let the waters teem with living creatures” (Genesis 1:20):
Word by word
| בְּאַפָּיו | נִשְׁמַת | חַיִּים | וַיְהִי | הָאָדָם | לְנֶפֶשׁ | חַיָּה |
| in · nostrils · his | breath of | life | and · he became | the · man | a creature | living |
Original form
What this tells us
Genesis 2 tells the making of the first man up close. God shapes him from the ground, the way a potter shapes clay, and then does something personal: he “breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.” Right after, “the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed” (Genesis 2:8). The word for “being” is nephesh. The text does not say the man was given a nephesh; it says he “became a living being”, a living nephesh. Dust and the breath of God together make a living person. Older Bibles put it as ‘a living soul’. The same phrase is used of animals a chapter earlier: “Let the waters teem with living creatures” (Genesis 1:20), where ‘living creatures’ is nephesh too. What sets people apart in Genesis is not that word but that they are made in God’s image and receive his breath this closely. Christians have long differed on how body and soul belong together: many speak of a soul that lives on after death, others stress the whole person, and both turn to Scripture for it. When the Bible speaks to your soul, it is speaking to all of you: the you that breathes because God breathed first.
What the original says
Behind “the life” in this verse is nephesh (said NEH-fesh), the word you met in Genesis 2:7.
It is the same word, here meaning life itself: the life in a living body. The same word stands behind “your souls” and “the soul” later in the verse.
This form, nefesh, is tied to the next word: ‘the life of the flesh’. The verse uses nephesh three times, and the Berean puts it two ways: “life”, then “souls” and “soul”.
That double use runs all through the Berean: ‘life’ 122 times and ‘soul’ 194 times, with ‘lives’ 39 more:
Word by word
| כִּי | נֶפֶשׁ | הַבָּשָׂר | בַּדָּם | הִוא | וַאֲנִי | נְתַתִּיו |
| for | life of | the · flesh | in the · blood | it | and · I | I have given · it |
Original form
What this tells us
Leviticus 17 gives Israel rules about sacrifice and about blood. Just before this verse, the LORD says that anyone who eats blood will be cut off from the people: “I will set My face against that person” (Leviticus 17:10). Then comes the reason for the rule. The word for “life” is nephesh. Here the soul is not pictured as something apart from the body: “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Then the same word comes twice more, for the people themselves: atonement “for your souls”, and “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” A life is given for a life. The rule is repeated a few verses later: “the life of all flesh is its blood” (Leviticus 17:14). The New Testament picks up the same thread: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Christians read these sacrifices as pointing ahead to Christ, who gave his own life; they explain how that works in more than one way, but they agree that it was given for us. Your soul, in this verse, is your life, and it mattered enough to God that he gave a way for it to be covered. What does that say about how he sees your life?
What the original says
Behind “soul” in this verse is nephesh (said NEH-fesh).
It is the same word, here as the part of you that longs: your appetite, your desire, your deepest self reaching for God.
This form, nafshi, has ‘my’ joined to the end: my soul. The verb before it, tzame’ah, ‘thirsts’, is in a feminine form, because in Hebrew nephesh is a feminine word.
In the Berean it is ‘soul’ 194 times, as in “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God” (Psalm 42:1):
Word by word
| אֲשַׁחֲרֶךָּ | צָמְאָה | לְךָ | נַפְשִׁי | כָּמַהּ | לְךָ | בְשָׂרִי |
| I am seeking earnestly · you | it is thirsty | for · you | self · my | it longs | for · you | flesh · my |
Original form
What this tells us
David writes from a dry place, and the land around him becomes the picture of his prayer: “My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.” The psalm opens with a claim and a search at once: “O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You.” The word for “soul” is nephesh, and here it is the thirsty, longing self. In this verse soul and body stand side by side: “my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You.” Both reach for God, the way a dry throat reaches for water. The psalm moves from thirst to fullness: “My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods” (Psalm 63:5), and then to closeness: “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me” (Psalm 63:8). The reason sits in the middle: “Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You” (Psalm 63:3). Think of someone lost in a desert who finds a spring: for a moment, nothing else matters. What is your soul thirsty for these days? This psalm gives the thirst a name and a direction: You, O God.
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind “my soul” in this verse is nephesh (said NEH-fesh).
It is the same word, here the inner self that can be restless or still.
This form, nafshi, is ‘my soul’, and it comes twice in this verse. The verse opens with ’im lo, word for word ‘if not’, a Hebrew way of making a solemn promise: ‘surely’.
In the Berean it is often a way of saying ‘myself’: it is ‘himself’ 15 times and ‘yourself’ 8 times, and ‘soul’ 194 times:
Word by word
| אִם | לֹא | שִׁוִּיתִי | וְדוֹמַמְתִּי | נַפְשִׁי | כְּגָמֻל | עֲלֵי |
| if | not | I have made still | and · I have made quiet | self · my | like · a weaned | on |
Original form
What this tells us
Psalm 131 is one of the shortest psalms, only three verses long. It begins with humility: “My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me” (Psalm 131:1). The word for “soul” is nephesh, the inner self. David says he has done something with it: “I have stilled and quieted my soul.” Then comes the picture: “like a weaned child with his mother.” A nursing baby cries for milk; a weaned child can sit on his mother’s lap simply to be near her, wanting nothing more. The psalm ends by turning to everyone: “O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, both now and forevermore” (Psalm 131:3). Another psalm says something close: “Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him” (Psalm 62:5). The soul in these verses can be noisy or calm, and it can learn to be still. It is something you can speak to, and quiet. Your soul does not have to be loud with demands to be close to God. What would it mean to sit with him today the way a child sits with a mother, wanting only to be near?
What the original says
Behind the word “soul” in this verse is the Greek word psychē (said psoo-KHAY).
It is the New Testament’s word for soul and life: your life, your very self, close to how the Hebrew nephesh is used. Strong’s says it first means ‘breath’.
This form, psychē, is the one doing the action: my soul magnifies. The verb comes first, megalunei, ‘makes great’: word for word, ‘makes great my soul the Lord’.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘soul’ 39 times and ‘life’ 32 times, and ‘lives’ 6 more:
Word by word
| Μαριάμ | μεγαλύνει | ἡ | ψυχή | μου | τὸν | κύριον |
| Mary | magnifies | the | soul | my | the | Lord |
Original form
What this tells us
Mary has gone to visit her relative Elizabeth; both of them are expecting a child. When Elizabeth blesses her, Mary answers with a song. Not long before, she had told the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38). Now she sings: “My soul magnifies the Lord”. The word for “soul” is psychē, the self, the life within. To magnify is to make great, the way a lens makes something small look large. Mary’s whole self is turned to making God look as great as he is. The next line says it again in other words: “and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” (Luke 1:47). Soul and spirit stand here in two lines that echo each other, as so often in the psalms. Mary gives the reason: “For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant” (Luke 1:48). The psalms had sung the same way long before: “Bless the LORD, O my soul” (Psalm 103:1). A young woman with no standing sings what kings had sung. Your soul is made to make God great. What would it look like today for your life, not only your words, to magnify the Lord?
What the original says
Behind “life” in this verse is psychē (said psoo-KHAY).
It is the same word, here meaning a person’s life: everything he is, his very self.
This form, psychēn, is the thing that is given: Jesus lays down his life. The verb after it, tithēsin, means to lay down or set down, as you set something down on purpose.
The Berean puts it as ‘life’ 32 times, as in “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13):
Word by word
| ὁ | καλὸς | τὴν | ψυχὴν | αὐτοῦ | τίθησιν | ὑπὲρ |
| the | good | the | life | of Him | lays down | for |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus has just healed a man born blind, and the religious leaders have thrown the man out: “And they threw him out” (John 9:34). Now Jesus speaks of shepherds, thieves and hired hands, and then of himself: “I am the good shepherd.” The word for “life” is psychē, the same word other verses put as ‘soul’. When Jesus says the good shepherd “lays down His life for the sheep,” he means his whole self, not something he can spare. He says it again a few verses later: “I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:15). And he says no one forces him: “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord” (John 10:18). Elsewhere he uses the same word of his followers: “whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). Think of a shepherd who stands between the sheep and a wolf: the sheep live because he does not run. The soul Jesus gave was his own, for sheep who could not save themselves. What does it mean to you that he counted your life worth his?
What the original says
Behind “soul” in this verse is psychē (said psoo-KHAY).
It is the same word: soul, life, the self. Here it stands in a list with spirit and body.
This form, psychē, is the second of three words joined by ‘and’: spirit and soul and body. The word before the list, holoklēron, means whole, complete in every part.
In the Berean it is ‘soul’ 39 times. Hebrews also sets soul and spirit side by side: the word of God “pierces even to dividing soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12):
Word by word
| πνεῦμα | καὶ | ἡ | ψυχὴ | καὶ | τὸ | σῶμα |
| spirit | and | the | soul | and | the | body |
Original form
What this tells us
These are the closing lines of Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica. Just before, he gives a string of short commands, beginning with “Rejoice at all times” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Now he turns them into a prayer and a blessing over the whole church. The word for “soul” is psychē. Paul prays for the whole person: “may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Nothing is left out. God’s care reaches every part of a person, inside and out. Christians read this list in different ways: some see three parts in a person, spirit, soul and body, while others see two, an inner self and a body, and take Paul to mean ‘all of you’; the prayer holds either way. Paul ends with a promise that does not depend on the reader’s strength: “The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Think of a builder who has promised to finish a house, every room of it. God is not only interested in your soul, or only in your body. He is making all of you whole, and he is faithful to finish it.
Behind "soul" are 3 different words
Your English Bible says "soul" 234 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
David wrote this from a dry and weary place. Read it slowly, as your own prayer:
Name it
What is your soul thirsty for right now? Write it plainly, then write what it would mean to bring that thirst to God.
Carry with you
If your soul is the whole of you, what would it mean to love God with all of it this week?