Did you know that the word soul was translated from the word "nephesh" and refers to any being that breathes?

Question

That means humans and animals are souls because they breathe. Nephesh is also mortal and must be resurrected in order to live on. In the New testament the greek word that is used is psyche, which is the mind and it's emotions. It is also refered to as mortal. To resurrect, the spirit of life must return and recover your DNA and reconstruct the body i guess....

Hell is a debatable term. It is often translated from sheol or hades meaning grave. This is the first death and is called a sleep because although there is no conciousness, God can still resurrect the dead soul. Sometimes hell is from the word gehenna which is a junkyard symbolizing a second death where the soul dies (ceases existing).

The "god" that torments people with unwanted eternal life in hell is not my God nor is it the "god" of the bible

Revelation says that Paradise (the garden with the tree of life in the New Jerusalem) will come to Earth. So heaven basically is here (after the fire clears up the hellfire fromheave)

(the fire from heaven eventually dies out when the souls who don't like life cease to exist (along with satan and the demons)

Answer 1

bless you for your good question/info. what you say is right. Our souls are solid living breathing entities. and yes once our earthly bodies die we are resurrected into our heavenly bodies. and that body has the same dna patterns our earthly body had. That is why we look the same in either body. However our souls are still mortal. It is through our faith in Jesus and god that our soul puts on the cloak of immortality. You certainly have got down to the nuts and bolts of it! Excellent job done. keep it up. er the good works that is.

Answer 2

God spoke, and the animals were made. God made man with His own hands, AND THEN BREATHED THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO HIM. Only mankind has the spiritual life that can live on forever.

I'm not saying that animals don't have a soul. They do. But they don't have a spirit. An animal's soul (emotion, reasoning, mind) resides in the physical body. When the body dies, the soul ends (for animals). - Sorry PETA, no dogs go to heaven.....

Answer 3

Oh yeah.

Not only that, but Ezekiel 18:4 tells us that "the soul that is sinning - it itself will die", which, when compared with Ecc. 9:5 tells me that at death one merely ceases to exist. Thoughts perish, bodily functions halt, and consciousness shuts down completely, like the deepest imaginable sleep.

Let's not get on Ruah/ruach and pneuma, the Hebrew and Greek words for 'spirit', which literally mean 'air' and stand for the force of life sustained by breath...

Answer 4

Your right, God does not torment people. But they make the choice to go there on there own. You choose torment when you reject the one who put you here on this earth. God created man that he might be to the praise and glory of God. This is man's purpose in life is the know and experience God. If you choose not to live in that purpose, then you choose for yourself the alternative, hell. Jesus said to His disciples that they were the salt of this earth, but if that salt loses it's savour, then how will you get it back again? It is not fit for anything, not even the dung hill. It is cast out and trampled on by men. If salt can't serve the purpose in which it is supposed to be used then it is cast out. So it is with people who do not want to know God. They refuse to serve God, so they do not have the mind to know Him, how then can they go and live with Him in heaven?

Answer 5

Nephesh actually refers to "the breath", not anything that breathes. The breath in ancient times was considered the "soul".

Answer 6

yes but don't agree with the logic of the rest of your comments.

Answer 7

Really? I just wanted to ask. But where's your question?

Answer 8

Nephesh is used of the lower animals only, in twenty-two passages, and is rendered in nine different ways
1. "creature" Gen. 1:21, 24; 2:19; 9:10, 12. Lev. 11:46. 7
2. "thing" Lev. 11:10. Ezek. 47:9. 2
3. "life" Gen. 1:20, 30. 2
4. "the life" Gen. 9:4. Deut. 12:23. Prov. 12:10. 4
5. "beast" Lev. 24:18. (See margin.) 3
6. "the soul" Job 12:10. (See margin.) 1
7. "breath" Job 41:21. 1
8. "fish" Isa. 19:10. (See margin.) 1
9. "her" Jer. 2:24. 1

Total
22
(*1) It is used of the lower animals four times before it is used of man; and out of the first thirteen times in Genesis, it is used ten times of the lower animals.

Nephesh is used of the Lower Animals and Man in seven passages, and rendered in three different ways
1. "creature" Gen. 9:15, 16. 2
2. "the life" Lev. 17:11, 14. 4
3. "soul" Num. 31:28. 1

Total
7

Nephesh is used of Man, as an individual person, in 53 passages, and is rendered in six different ways
1. "soul" Gen. 2:7; 12:5; 46:15, 18, 22, 25, 26, 27. Ex. 1:5; 12:4. Lev. 22:11. Ps. 25:20. Prov. 10:3; 11:25, 30; 14:25; 19:15; 22:23 (R.V. life); 25:25; 27:7. Jer. 38:16. Lam. 3:25. Ezek. 13:18, 20; 18:4 34
2. "person" Gen. 14:21; 36:6 (R.V. souls). Ex. 16:16. Lev. 27:2. Num. 31:40, 46. Deut. 10:22. Jer. 43:6; 52:29, 30. Ezek. 16:5; 27:13. 14
3. "persons" Num. 31:35. 1
4. "any" Deut. 24:7. 1
5. "man" 2Kings 12:4 1
6. "and" 1Chron. 5:21 1
Not rendered Num. 31:35 (Lit. "and the soul of man...were 32,000 souls.") 1

Total
53

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising certain powers, or performing certain acts (may be often well rendered by emphatic pronouns), in ninety-six passages, and with eleven different renderings
1. "soul" Gen. 27:4, 19, 25, 31. Lev. 4:2; 5:1, 2, 4, 15, 17; 6:2; 7:18, 20, 21, 27; 16:29, 31; 17:12, 15; 20:6, 25; 22:6; 23:27, 30, 32. Num. 15:27, 28, 30; 19:22; 29:7; 30:2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Deut. 13:6. Judg. 5:21. 1Sam. 1:26; 17:55; 18:3; 20:3, 17; 25:26. 2Sam. 11:11; 14:19. 2Kings 2:2, 4, 6; 4:30. Job 16:4; 31:30 (R.V. life). Ps. 35:13; 120:6. Prov. 6:32; 8:36; 11:17; 13:2; 15:32; 16:17; 19:8, 16; 20:2 (R.V. life); 21:23; 22:5; 29:24. Ecc. 4:8; 6:2. Isa. 51:23; 58:3, 5. Jer. 4:19. Ezek. 4:14. Mic. 6:7. 81
2. "man" Ex. 12:16. 1
3. "any" Lev. 2:1. 1
4. "one" Lev. 4:27. 1
5. "yourselves" Lev. 11:43, 44. Jer. 17:21. 3
6. "person" Num. 5:6. 1
7. "themselves" Est. 9:31. Isa. 46:2. 2
8. "himself" Job 18:4 (R.V. thyself); 32:2. 2
9. "he" Ps. 105:18. 1
10. "herself" Jer. 3:11. 1
11. "Himself" Jer. 51:14.&n 1000 bsp; Amos 6:8 (used of Jehovah). 2

Total
96

Nephesh is used of Man, as possessing animal appetites and desires, in twenty-two passages, rendered in five different ways
1. "soul" Num. 11:6 (dried away). Deut. 12:15 (lusteth), 20 (longeth to eat flesh), 20 (lusteth after), 21 (lusteth); 14:26 (lusteth), 26 (desireth); 21:5 (loatheth). 1Sam. 2:16 (desireth). Job 6:7 (refused); 33:20 (abhorreth). Ps. 107:18 (abhorreth). Prov. 6:30 (hunger); 13:25 (satisfying). Isa. 29:8 (empty), 8 (hath appetite). Mic. 7:1 (desired...figs). 17
2. "pleasure" Deut. 23:24. 1
3. "lust" Ps. 78:18. 1
4. "appetite" Prov. 23:2. Ecc. 6:7. 2
5. "greedy" Isa. 56:11. 1

Total
22

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising mental faculties, and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions, in 231 passages, and rendered in twenty different ways
1. "soul" Gen. 34:3 (clave), 8 (longeth); 42:21 (anguish); 49:6 (come not). Lev. 26:11 (not abhor), 15 (abhor), 30 (abhor), 43 (abhor). Num. 21:4 (discouraged). Deut. 4:9 (keep), 29 (seek); 6:5 (love); 10:12 (serve); 11:13 (love), 18 (lay up in); 13:3 (love); 26:16 (keep); 30:2 (return), 6 (love), 10 (turn). Josh. 22:5 (serve); 23:14 (know). Judg. 10:16 (Used of God) (grieved); 16:16 (vexed). 1Sam. 1:10 (bitterness of), 15 (poured out); 18:1 (knit with), 1 (loved as); 20:4 (desireth); 23:20 (desire); 30:6 (grieved). 2Sam. 5:8 (hated). 1Kings 2:4 (walk); 8:48 (return); 11:37 (desired). 2Kings 4:27 (vexed); 23:3 (keep), 25 (turned). 1Chron. 22:19 (seek). 2Chron. 6:38 (return); 15:12 (seek); 34:31 (keep). Job 3:20 (bitter); 7:11 (bitterness); 9:21 (know) (R.V. myself); 10:1 (weary), 1 (bitterness); 14:22 (mourn); 19:2 (vex); 21:25 (bitterness); 23:13 (Used of God) (desireth); 24:12 (wounded); 27:2 (vexed); 30:16 (poured out), 25 (grieved). Ps. 6:3 (sore vexed); 11:5 (Used of God) (hateth); 13:2 (take counsel); 19:7 (converting); 24:4 (not lifted up); 25:1 (lifted up), 13 (dwell at ease); 31:7 (in adversities), 9 (consumed with grief); 33:20 (waiteth); 34:2 (boast); 35:9 (be joyful); 42:1 (panteth), 2 (thirsteth), 4 (pour our), 5 (cast down), 6 (cast down), 11 (cast down); 43:5 (cast down); 44:25 (bowed down); 62:1 (waileth), 5 (wait); 63:1 (thirsteth), 5 (satisfied), 8 (followeth hard); 69:10 (chastened); 77:2 (refused comfort); 84:2 (longeth); 86:4 (rejoiced), 4 (lift up); 88:3 (full of troubles); 94:19 (delight); 103:1, 2, 22; 104:1, 35 (bless); 107:5 (fainted), 9 (satisfied), 9 (filled with goodness), 26 (melted); 116:7 (return to rest); 119:20 (longing), 25 (cleaveth unto the dust), 28 (melteth for heaviness), 81 (fainteth), 129 (keep), 167 (kept); 123:4 (filled with scorning); 130:5 (wait), 6 (waiteth); 131:2 (quieted); 138:3 (strengthened); 139:14 (knoweth); 143:6 (thirsteth), 8 (lifted up), 11 (bring out of trouble), 12 (afflict); 146:1 (praise). Prov. 2:10 (knowledge pleasant); 3:22 (be life to); 13:4 (desireth), 4 (made fat), 19; 16:24 (sweet to); 19:2 (without knowledge), 18 (spare) (R.V. heart); 21:10 (desireth); 22:25 (get a snare to); 24:14 (wisdom unto); 25:13 (refresheth); 29:17 (give delight). Ecc. 2:24 (enjoy good); 6:3 (not filled); 7:28 (seeketh). Song 1:7; 3:1, 2, 3, 4 (loveth); 5:6 (failed); 6:12 (Used of God) (made me like chariots). Isa. 1:14 (hateth); 26:8 (desire), 9 (desire); 32:6 (made empty); 38:15 (bitterness of); 42:1 (Used of God); 55:2 (delight); 58:10 (drawn out), 10 (afflicted), 11 (satisfied); 61:10 (joyful); 66:3 (delighteth). Jer. 4:31 (wearied); 5:9, 29 (avenged); 6:8 (depart), 16 (find rest); 9:9 (Used of God) (avenged); 12:7 (dearly beloved of); 13:17 (shall weep); 14:19 (loathed); 31:12 (watered), 14, 25 (satiated), 25 (sorrowful); 32:41 (Used of God) (whole); 50:19 (satisfied). Lam. 3:17 (removed), 20 (humbled), 24 (saith). Ezek. 7:19 (satisfied); 24:21 (pitieth). Jonah 2:7 (fainted). Hab. 2:4 (not upright). Zech. 11:8 (lothed), 8 (abhorred). 176
2. "mind" Gen. 23:8 (your). Deut. 18:6 (desire); 28:65 (sorrow). 1Sam. 2:35 (Used of God). 2 Sam. 17:8 (chafed). 2Kings 9:15. 1Chron. 28:9 (willing). Jer. 15:1 (Used of God). Ezek. 23:17 (R.V. soul), 18 (Used of God) (R.V. soul), 18 (Used of God) (soul), 22 (R.V. soul), 28 (R.V. soul) (alienated); 24:25 (R.V. heart) (set); 36:5 (R.V. soul) (despiteful). 15
3. "heart" Ex. 23:9. Lev. 26:16. Deut. 24:15. 1Sam. 2:23 (grieve). 2Sam. 3:21 (desireth). Ps. 10:3 (desire). Prov. 23:7 (R.V. himself); 28:25 (proud heart) (R.V. greedy spirit); 31:6 (heavy heart.) (R.V. bitter in soul). Jer. 42:20 (dissembled) (R.V. souls). Lam. 3:51 (affected) (R.V. soul). Ezek. 25:6 (rejoiced) (R.V. soul), 15 (despiteful) (R.V. soul); 27:31 (bitterness). Hos. 4:8 (set). 15
4. "hearty" Prov. 27:9 (counsel). 1
5. "will" Deut. 21:14 (she will). Ps. 27:12; 41:2. Ezek. 16:27. 4
6. "desire" Ecc. 6:9. Jer. 22:27; 44:14. Mic. 7:3 (R.V. soul). Hab. 2:5. 5

7. "pleasure" Ps. 105:22. Jer. 34:16. 2
8. "lust" Ex. 15:9. 1
9. "angry" Judg. 18:25. 1
10. "discontented" 1Sam. 22:2. 1
11. "thyself" Est. 4:13. 1
12. "myself" Ps. 131:2. 1
13. "he" Prov. 16:26 (R.V. appetite). 1
14. "his own" Prov. 14:10 (R.V. its own). 1
15. "Him" Prov. 6:16 (Used of God) 1
16. "himself" Jon. 4:8. 1
17. "herself" Isa. 5:14 (R.V. her desire). 1
18. "yourselves" Jer. 37:9. 1
19. "man" Isa. 49:7. 1
20. "so would we have it" Ps. 35:25. 1

Total
231

Nephesh is used of Man, (a) as being "cut off" by God; (b) and as being slain of killed by man, in fifty-four passages : and is rendered in eight different ways
(a)
Soul cut off by God, in twenty-two passages, and rendered:


"soul"
Gen. 17:14. Ex. 12:15, 19; 31:14.& 1000 nbsp; Lev. 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 17:10; 18:29; 19:8; 20:6; 22:3; 23:29, 30. Num. 9:13; 15:30, 31; 19:13, 20. Ezek. 18:4, 20. 22
(b)
Slain or killed by man, in thirty-two passages, rendered in eight different ways :--


1.
"soul"
Josh. 10:28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 37, 39; 11:11. Jer. 2:34. Ezek. 13:19; 22:25, 27. 12

2.
"person"
Deut. 27:25. Josh. 20:3, 9. 1Sam. 22:22. Prov. 28:17. Ezek. 17:17; 33:6. 7

3.
"any"
Lev. 24:17. 1

4.
"any person"
Num. 31:19; 35:11, 15, 30, 30. 5

5.
"him"
Gen. 37:21. Deut. 19:6; 22:26. 3

6.
"mortally"
Deut. 19:11. 1

7.
"life"
2Sam. 14:7. 1

8.
"thee"
Jer. 40:14, 15. 2

Total
54

Nephesh is used of Man as being mortal, subject to death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and delivered and life prolonged, in 243 passages, rendered in eleven different ways

1. "soul" Gen. 12:13; 19:20. Ex. 30:12, 15, 16. Lev. 17:11, 11 (R.V. life). Num. 16:38 (R.V. lives); 31:50. 1Sam. 24:11; 25:29, 29, 29; 26:21 (R.V. life). 2Sam. 4:9. 1Kings 1:29; 17:21, 22. Job 7:15; 27:8. Ps. 3:2; 6:4; 7:2, 5; 11:1; 17:13; 22:20, 29; 23:3; 25:20; 26:9; 33:19; 34:22; 35:3, 4, 12, 17; 40:14; 41:4; 49:8, 15; 54:3, 4; 55:18; 56:6, 13; 57:4; 59:3; 63:9; 66:9, 16; 69:1, 18; 70:2; 71:10, 13, 23; 72:13, 14; 74:19; 78:50; 86:2, 14; 88:14; 94:21; 97:10; 106:15; 109:20, 31; 116:4, 8; 119:109; 175; 120:2; 121:7; 124:4, 5, 7; 141:8; 142:4, 7; 143:3. Prov. 18:7; 24:12; 29:10. Isa. 3:9; 10:18; 44:20; 53:10, 11, 12; 55:3. Jer. 4:10; 20:13; 26:19; 38:17, 20; 44:7; 51:6 (R.V. life), 45 (R.V. yourselves). Lam. 1:11, 16, 19; 2:12; 3:58. Ezek. 3:19, 21; 13:18, 19; 14:14, 20; 18:27; 33:5, 9. Hos. 9:4 (R.V. appetite). Jon. 2:5. Hab. 2:10. 127

2. "life, lives" Gen. 9:5, 5; 19:17, 19; 32:30; 35:18; 44:30, 30. Ex. 4:19; 21:23, 23, 30. Num. 35:31. Deut. 19:21, 21; 24:6. Josh. 2:13, 14; 9:24. Judg. 5:18; 9:17; 12:3; 18:25, 25. Ruth 4:15. 1Sam. 19:5, 11; 20:1; 22:23, 23; 23:15; 26:24, 24; 28:9, 21. 2Sam. 1:9; 4:8; 16:11; 18:13; 19:5, 5, 5, 5; 23:7. 1Kings 1:12, 12; 2:23; 3:11; 19:2, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14; 20:31, 39, 39, 42, 42. 2Kings 1:13, 13, 14; 7:7; 10:24, 24. 1Chron. 1:11. Est. 7:3, 7; 8:11; 9:16. Job 2:4, 6; 6:11 (R.V. be patient); 13:14; 31:39. Ps. 31:13; 38:12. Prov. 1:18, 19; 6:26; 7:23; 13:3, 8. Isa. 15:4 (R.V. soul); 43:4. Jer. 4:30; 11:16; 19:7, 9; 21:7, 9; 22:25; 34:20, 21; 38:2, 16; 39:18; 44:30, 40; 45:5; 46:26; 48:6; 49:37. Lam. 2:19; 5:9. Ezek. 32:10. Jon. 1:14; 4:3. 110

3. "ghost" Job 11:20. Jer. 15:9. 2

4. "person" 2Sam. 14:14 (R.V. life). 1

5. "tablets" Isa. 3:20 (R.V. perfume boxes) (Heb. "houses of the soul" = boxes of scent for the nose). 1

6. "deadly" Ps. 17:9 (Heb. "enemies against my Nephesh"). 1

7. "himself" 1Kings 19:4. Amos 2:14, 15. 3

8. "me" Num. 23:10. Judg. 16:30. 1Kings 20:32. 3

9. "they" Job 36:14. 1

10. "themselves" Isa. 47:14. 1

11. "yourselves" Deut. 4:15. Josh. 23:11. 2

Total
243

Nephesh is used of man, as actually dead, in thirteen passages, and is rendered in three different ways

1. "the dead" Lev. 19:28; 21:1; 22:4. Num. 5:2; 6:11. 5

2. "dead body" Num. 9:6, 7, 10. 3

3. "body" Lev. 21:11. Num. 6:6; 19:11, 13. Hag. 2:13. 5

Total
13

Nephesh, in thirteen passages (all rendered "soul"), is spoken of as going to a place described by four different words, rendered as shown below

1. "sheol" = THE grave (as distinct from keber, A grave), gravedom (or the dominion of death), in five passages, rendered in this connection in two different ways :--

1. "grave". Ps. 30:3 (R.V. "Sheol"); 89:48 (R.V. "Sheol", marg. grave). (Cp. Ps. 49:15). (2)

2. "hell". Ps. 16:10 (R.V. "Sheol"); 86:13 (marg. grave. R.V. "pit", marg. lowest Sheol). Prov. 23:14 (R.V. "Sheol", marg. the grave).

(3)

2. "shachath" = a pit (for taking wild beasts); hence, a grave. The Septuagint and New Testament take it in the sense of corruption; but, if so, not implying putridity, but destruction. Occurs in six passages, and is rendered in two different ways :--

1. "pit". Job 33:18, 28, 30. Ps. 35:7. Isa. 38:17. (5)

2. "grave". Job 33:22 (R.V. "pit"). (1)

3. "shuchah" = a deep pit (cp. all the occurrences, Prov. 22:14; 23:27. Jer. 2:6; 18:20, 22). In one passage only :--

1. Pit. Jer. 18:20. (1)

4. "dumah" = silence. Ps. 94:17. (1)
Total = 13

This page is extract from the Companion Bible.


"The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death, nor of any resurrection or return from death. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal. What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future, James Tabor