Word study · Hebrew
נְשָׁמָה
ne.sha.mahH5397breath
Used 24 times in the tagged text.
What it means
- breath, spirit
Full dictionary entry (technical)
- 1) breath, spirit
- 1a) breath (of God)
- 1b) breath (of man)
- 1c) every breathing thing
- 1d) spirit (of man)
- Aramaic equivalent: nish.ma (נִשְׁמָא "breath" H5396)
Same idea, other words · Spirit, breath and soul
In both languages the word for spirit also means breath or wind, and the word for soul can mean life itself. Translators have to choose; readers should know there is a choice.
Where it appears
- Genesis2
- Deuteronomy1
- Joshua3
- 2 Samuel1
- 1 Kings2
- Job7
- Psalms2
- Proverbs1
- Isaiah4
- Daniel1
Every use · BSB
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.
The Israelites put everyone in Hazor to the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained, and Joshua burned down Hazor itself.
The Israelites took for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but they put all the people to the sword until they had completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone who breathed.
The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
As soon as Baasha became king, he struck down the entire household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,
Later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him.
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?
as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,
But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen.
The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed, at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Hallelujah!
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
This is what God the LORD says— He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
How can I, your servant, speak with you, my lord? Now I have no strength, nor is any breath left in me.”
Text, tags and lexicon: STEPBible.org (Tyndale House), CC BY 4.0.