Job 27:3

27:3 for while ¹  my spirit ²  is still in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

Job 34:14-15

34:14 If God ³  were to set his heart on it, ⁴ 

and gather in his spirit and his breath,

34:15 all flesh would perish together

and human beings would return to dust.

Genesis 2:7

2:7 The Lord God formed ⁵  the man from the soil of the ground ⁶  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, ⁷  and the man became a living being. ⁸ 

Genesis 6:17

6:17 I am about to bring ⁹  floodwaters ¹⁰  on the earth to destroy ¹¹  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ¹²  Everything that is on the earth will die,

Psalms 104:29

104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. ¹³ 

When you take away their life’s breath, they die

and return to dust.

Psalms 146:3-4

146:3 Do not trust in princes,

or in human beings, who cannot deliver! ¹⁴ 

146:4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;

on that day their plans die. ¹⁵ 

[27:3]  ¹ tn The adverb עוֹד (’od) was originally a noun, and so here it could be rendered “all the existence of my spirit.” The word comes between the noun in construct and its actual genitive (see GKC 415 §128.e).

[27:3]  ² tn The word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah) is the “breath” that was breathed into Adam in Gen 2:7. Its usage includes the animating breath, the spiritual understanding, and the functioning conscience – so the whole spirit of the person. The other word in this verse, רוּחַ (ruakh), may be translated as “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit/Spirit” depending on the context. Here, since it talks about the nostrils, it should be translated “breath.”

[34:14]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ⁴ tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.

[2:7]  ⁵ tn Or “fashioned.” The prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive initiates narrative sequence. The Hebrew word יָצַר (yatsar) means “to form” or “to fashion,” usually by plan or design (see the related noun יֵצֶר [yetser] in Gen 6:5). It is the term for an artist’s work (the Hebrew term יוֹצֵר [yotser] refers to a potter; see Jer 18:2-4.)

[2:7]  ⁶ tn The line literally reads “And Yahweh God formed the man, soil, from the ground.” “Soil” is an adverbial accusative, identifying the material from which the man was made.

[2:7]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”) is used for God and for the life imparted to humans, not animals (see T. C. Mitchell, “The Old Testament Usage of Nÿshama,” VT 11 [1961]: 177-87). Its usage in the Bible conveys more than a breathing living organism (נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה, nefesh khayyah). Whatever is given this breath of life becomes animated with the life from God, has spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and has a functioning conscience (Prov 20:27).

[2:7]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person. The phrase נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה (nefesh khayyah, “living being”) is used of both animals and human beings (see 1:20, 24, 30; 2:19).

[6:17]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ¹¹ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ¹² tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[104:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

[146:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in a son of man, to whom there is no deliverance.”

[146:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.