Word studies · Hebrew · Strong's H5315
נֶפֶשׁ · nephesh · appears 754 times in the Old Testament
In one line: The whole living self, body and breath included.
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.
Psalm 23:3
Nephesh is the living self — appetite, breath and personhood together, a whole creature rather than a part of one.
Nephesh describes people and animals as living beings, the self that hungers and thirsts, and the life that can be taken or preserved. When Genesis says the man “became a living nephesh,” it is not saying he received a soul but that he became one.
Nephesh comes from a root meaning to breathe, and its concrete senses are throat and appetite — which is why the Psalms can speak of the nephesh panting, thirsting and being satisfied. The word travels from the physical business of breathing and eating to the whole living self.
English “soul” suggests an immaterial part housed in a body; nephesh names the person as a living creature. Reading “my soul thirsts for God” with the Hebrew in mind restores the bodily force of it — this is craving, not contemplation.
Nephesh (H5315) appears 671 times in the Hebrew Bible, and Genesis 2:7 uses it for the man himself: he did not receive a nephesh, he became one.
A biblical anthropology built on nephesh keeps body and self together, which is why the hope held out is resurrection rather than escape. It also makes love of God whole-person work: “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Bring your appetites to God rather than leaving them out of your devotion — hunger, tiredness, longing are where the Psalms actually pray from. Name one physical craving today and let it teach you what you are really seeking.
properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental)
And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
Genesis 1:20The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
Exodus 1:5[“]When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it,
Leviticus 2:1“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.
Numbers 5:2Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
Deuteronomy 4:9that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will deliver us from death.”
Joshua 2:13Press and hold soul in any chapter and this study opens on the verse you are reading, with the lexicons, every occurrence and the commentaries beside it. The Bible is free to read.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Strong's definitions are public domain. Counts come from The Pillar's own tagged text.