Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Thu  7 Jan 99 (17:00:47), a.c.smith AT juno.com wrote:
> I found the following on a web site. I have not heard of "neshama"
> before. Does this word occur in the Tanakh? If so, where?

 Dear Anthony

 The word N:$aMaH is used in Genesis 2:7 in close connection with NePe$,
 so that by metonymy the word "breath" (the living part of a person) comes
 to mean "soul" (the spiritual part of a person).

 In Job 26:4 Job chides Bildad with playing God. 'eT-MiY HiGGaD:Ta MiLLiYN
 WeNi$:MaT-MiY YaTsa'H MiMMeKKa. This seems an allusion to Genesis 2:7.

 In Proverbs 20:27 we find NeR YHWH Ni$:MaT 'aDaM ''. The "spirit" of man
 is the "lamp of the LORD".

 In Isaiah 57:16 we find N:$aMoWT (breathing ones, souls) used in
 conjunction with RuWaX (wind, spirit).

 Again by word-association or metonymy we establish the overlapping
 Euler-circles of the semantic ranges of N:$aMaH, RuWaX and NePe$.

 Thanks for the interesting citation from the unidentified website.

 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
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