Word studies · Hebrew · Strong's H7307
רוּחַ · rûwach · appears 378 times in the Old Testament
In one line: Wind, breath, and the Spirit who gives life.
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:2
Ruach is wind, breath and spirit — the same word for the air that moves, the breath that lives, and the Spirit of God.
Ruach names the wind over the waters at creation, the breath that makes a body alive, human temper and disposition, and the Spirit of God who empowers judges, prophets and kings. Ezekiel's valley of dry bones plays deliberately on all these senses at once.
Ruach's basic sense is moving air — wind or breath — and both are invisible forces known only by their effects. Hebrew extends it to the inner disposition (a broken ruach, a haughty ruach) and to God's own animating presence.
English needs three words where Hebrew uses one, so the puns are lost: the wind that blows, the breath that keeps you alive and the Spirit who gives life are one word in the prophets. Jesus is doing the same thing in Greek in John 3, where pneuma means both wind and Spirit.
Ruach (H7307) appears 353 times in the Hebrew Bible, and Genesis 1:2 uses it for the Spirit of God hovering over the waters.
Because ruach is the breath of life, God's Spirit is bound up with life itself — creation, and re-creation. Ezekiel's promise that God will put His ruach within His people is the Old Testament's clearest anticipation of Pentecost.
Ask for God's Spirit in the ordinary work of the coming week rather than only in crisis. The word is breath: assume you need it as often.
wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions)
Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.
Exodus 6:9and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—
Numbers 5:14But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
Deuteronomy 2:30When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.
Joshua 2:11The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.
Judges 3:10Press and hold spirit / breath 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.