The Hebrew term for “soul” is nephesh, found more than 780 times in the Old Testament. Because of the variety of contextual meanings, it is not always rendered by the English word “soul.” The King James Version uses 28 different words by which to translate the original term. Nephesh, therefore, signifies different things, depending upon the passage in which it occurs. In other words, it is the context that determines the Etymology of a term. Similarly, in the Greek New Testament, the original word for “soul” is psuche, found 103 times. In the Old Testament, “spirit” is ruach, found some 378 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and literally meaning “breath,” “wind,” etc. The corresponding Greek term is pneuma, occurring 379 times in the New Testament (the original form being found in our English word, pneumonia). Again, though, as with “soul,” the word “spirit” may take on different senses, depending upon its contextual setting. Rabbi Moshe Maimonides defines “Ruach” Spirit as follows: Air – “and the Air (Ruach) of G-d moved” – (Genesis 1:2) Wind – “And the east wind (Ruach)brought the locusts” – (Exodus10:13) Breath – “Wherein is the Breath (Ruach) of life” – (Genesis7:15) Then there is the fourth meaning: which is that which remains of man after his death and is not subject to destruction – “And the Spirit shall return unto G-d who gave it” – (Eccles. 12:7) Rabbi Moshe Maimonides defines “Nefesh” Soul as follows: The vitality which is common to living beings – “where there is a living (Nefesh) soul” – (Genesis1:30) Blood – “Thou shalt not eat the blood (nefesh) with the meat” – (Deut.12:23) Reason – (a distinguishing characteristic of man) “As Adonai liveth that made us this soul (nefesh)” – (Jeremiah 38:16) Will – “To bind his princes at his will (be-nefesh) – (Psalms 105:22) It is not uncommon to find mistranslations when trying to translate things between Hebrew, Greek, English, etc… In fact, some Hebrew words simply do not have an equivalent in English. To read further about the soul, click the following link: santiagocuellar73.wordpress/theology/the-soul/ Shabbat Shalom.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 15:35:34 +0000
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