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Strong's numbers

נֶפֶשׁ H5315

nephesh

neh'-fesh

from נָפַשׁ; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental); any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, [idiom] dead(-ly), desire, [idiom] (dis-) contented, [idiom] fish, ghost, [phrase] greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, [idiom] jeopardy of) life ([idiom] in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, [phrase] slay, soul, [phrase] tablet, they, thing, ([idiom] she) will, [idiom] would have it.

Brown–Driver–Briggs

נֶ֫פֶשׁ 756 n.f. soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion
1 = that which breathes, the breathing substance or being
2 The נפשׁ becomes a living being
3 The נפשׁ is specif.
4 The נפשׁ as the essential of man stands for the man himself
5 נפשׁ = seat of the appetites, in all periods (46 t.)
6 נ׳ = seat of emotions and passions
7 נפשׁ is used occasionally for mental acts
8 נפשׁ for acts of the will is dub.
9 נפשׁ = character is still more dub.
10 נ׳ in D

From Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), in the public domain.


683 occurrences

Shown in the King James Version (KJV), whichever translation you read in — it is the text these numbers are tagged against.

  • 1 Kings 20:42
    And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.
  • 2 Kings 1:13
    And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.
  • 2 Kings 1:14
    Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.
  • 2 Kings 2:2
    And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
  • 2 Kings 2:4
    And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
  • 2 Kings 2:6
    And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
  • 2 Kings 4:27
    And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
  • 2 Kings 4:30
    And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.
  • 2 Kings 7:7
    Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
  • 2 Kings 9:15
    But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel.