Home›Strong's concordance›H5315
נֶפֶשׁ H5315
H5315 is the Hebrew word נֶפֶשׁ, transliterated nephesh and said neh'-fesh. The King James Version most often renders it soul.
What it means
properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental).
Where it comes from
from H5314 (נָפַשׁ).
How the King James Version translates it
Across 473 tagged occurrences, counted from this edition's word index.
Strong's own list of renderings: any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, [idiom] dead(-ly), desire, [idiom] (dis-) contented, [idiom] fish, ghost, [phrase] greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, [idiom] jeopardy of) life ([idiom] in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, [phrase] slay, soul, [phrase] tablet, they, thing, ([idiom] she) will, [idiom] would have it.
Verses using נֶפֶשׁ
The first 40 of 600 verses, quoted in full.
Genesis 1:20 · KJV
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1:21 · KJV
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24 · KJV
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:30 · KJV
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Genesis 2:19 · KJV
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
Genesis 9:4 · KJV
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Genesis 9:5 · KJV
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Genesis 9:10 · KJV
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
Genesis 9:12 · KJV
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Genesis 9:15 · KJV
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:16 · KJV
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Genesis 12:5 · KJV
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
Genesis 12:13 · KJV
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Genesis 14:21 · KJV
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
Genesis 17:14 · KJV
And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Genesis 19:17 · KJV
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Genesis 19:19 · KJV
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Genesis 19:20 · KJV
Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
Genesis 23:8 · KJV
And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
Genesis 27:4 · KJV
And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
Genesis 27:19 · KJV
And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy first born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
Genesis 27:25 · KJV
And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
Genesis 27:31 · KJV
And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.
Genesis 32:30 · KJV
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Genesis 34:3 · KJV
And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
Genesis 34:8 · KJV
And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
Genesis 35:18 · KJV
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
Genesis 36:6 · KJV
And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.
Genesis 42:21 · KJV
And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Genesis 44:30 · KJV
Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life;
Genesis 46:15 · KJV
These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.
Genesis 46:22 · KJV
These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
Genesis 46:25 · KJV
These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
Genesis 46:26 · KJV
All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
Genesis 46:27 · KJV
And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
Genesis 49:6 · KJV
O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
Exodus 1:5 · KJV
And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
Exodus 12:4 · KJV
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Exodus 12:15 · KJV
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:16 · KJV
And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
Common questions
What does Strong's H5315 mean?
H5315 is the Hebrew word נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh), meaning properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental).
How is H5315 translated in the King James Version?
The King James translators rendered it soul (280 times), life (68 times), souls (43 times), lives (13 times), persons (12 times), among others.
How many times does H5315 appear in the Bible?
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) is tagged in 600 verses of the King James Version in this edition's word index.
Where does H5315 come from?
Strong's gives its derivation as: from H5314 (נָפַשׁ).
Nearby entries
Keep reading in TheWay Bible App
Read, study, memorize, journal, and pray — tap any word for its Greek or Hebrew definition, save verses to memorize, and keep a journal. Free on the web and iOS.