SPECIAL TOPIC: NEPHESH

"Soul" is the Hebrew word nephesh (BDB 659, KB 711). We must be careful that we do not mix Greek philosophy (i.e. an immortal soul/spirit in all humans) with Hebrew Scripture. The OT does not say that we have a soul, but that we are a soul (cf. Gen. 2:7). The Hebrew word "soul" has a semantic overlap with the Akkadian word napishtu, which signifies the place of breathing or the throat (cf. Ps. 69:2). Humanity's uniqueness is not in the fact that they have a nephesh, for in the early parts of Genesis the animals also had a nephesh (cf. Gen. 1:21, 24; 2:19; Lev. 11:46; 24:18). This is simply a Hebrew idiom that one's physical life on earth ceased when breath and/or blood departed.

The Hebrew root, נפשׁ (BDB 659, KB 711), is used in several senses in the OT. KB lists several different ways this general word for life/person is used.

1. "gullet," "throat," or "wind pipe" (Ps. 107:9; Isa. 5:14)
2. "neck" (Ps. 69:1)
3. "breath" (i.e. creatures of this planet that breathe air)
   1. humans (Gen. 2:7)
   2. animals (Gen. 1:20)
4. a living, breathing creature (Gen. 2:19
5. people (Lev. 24:17)
6. personality
   1. YHWH (Lev. 26:11; Isa. 1:14)
   2. covenant person (Lev. 26:15)
7. life
   1. life of a person ‒ Gen. 19:17
   2. life in the blood ‒ Gen. 9:5; Lev. 17:11,14; Deut. 12:23
8. soul (Exod. 23:9)
9. dead soul (Lev. 19:28)

Some of these are overlapping and it is hard to distinguish a difference.

For a brief analysis of the Hebrew root, see

1. Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, pp. 56-59
2. John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, pp. 213-214

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