Wind ; by resemblance breath , i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation ; figuratively, life , anger , unsubstantiality ; by extension, a region of the sky ; by resemblance spirit , but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions)
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רוּחַ (rûaḥ) can denote wind, breath, vitality, a person's spirit or disposition, a spiritual being, or the Spirit of God. These senses share language of invisible movement and life, but they are not interchangeable.
Reader summary
Full entry for רוּחַ (H7307) · Open the biblical lexicon
רוּחַ (rûaḥ) can denote wind, breath, vitality, a person's spirit or disposition, a spiritual being, or the Spirit of God. These senses share language of invisible movement and life, but they are not interchangeable.
The BSB source-word alignment has 378 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the Spirit (46), spirit (28), wind (26), the wind (22), My Spirit (17).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (52), Isaiah (51), Psalms (39), Job (31).
רוּחַ (rûaḥ) can denote wind, breath, vitality, a person's spirit or disposition, a spiritual being, or the Spirit of God. These senses share language of invisible movement and life, but they are not interchangeable. The immediate possessor, governing verb, parallel line, and literary setting must identify the referent. English capitalization adds an interpretive decision that Hebrew script itself does not supply, so teachers should explain why a passage is rendered “wind,” “breath,” “spirit,” or “Spirit.”
Narrative uses make the concrete range unmistakable. God sends a wind over the floodwaters in Genesis 8, and a strong east wind divides the sea in Exodus 14. Ecclesiastes 12 speaks of the spirit returning to the God who gave it, while Psalm 51 asks for a right spirit within the repentant worshiper. Weather, mortal life, and inward disposition can all be expressed with rûaḥ, but the noun alone does not make a wind divine, an emotion demonic, or a human spirit identical with God's Spirit.
When the referent is the Spirit of the Lord, Scripture describes God's personal and purposeful action. The Spirit rests on elders for prophetic service, rushes upon David in the kingship narrative, rests upon the promised ruler with wisdom and holy fear, and is promised within the restored people to produce covenant obedience. Empowerment remains God's gift and does not make its recipient infallible, morally safe, or exempt from correction. Claims of Spirit guidance must remain accountable to Scripture, truthful evidence, the fruit of holiness, wise communal discernment, and care for those affected.
Ezekiel 37 deliberately repeats rûaḥ across breath and winds while God promises to give life to the exiled house of Israel. The chapter's wordplay is part of its force, but its stated national-restoration interpretation must remain visible before wider resurrection connections are drawn. The New Testament's pneuma language receives themes of creation, prophecy, messianic anointing, regeneration, indwelling, and outpouring, especially as Acts 2 cites Joel. That canonical development deepens Christian doctrine without making every H7307 occurrence a reference to the Holy Spirit or reducing the Holy Spirit to an impersonal force.
H7307 names moving wind, life-related breath or spirit, human disposition, and God's Spirit acting in creation, leadership, messianic promise, renewal, and restoration. Representative passages display both the noun's breadth and the contextual markers that prevent weather, human interiority, and divine agency from being collapsed.
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
The BSB renders the phrase as the Spirit of God hovering over the waters within the opening creation scene.
But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
God sends a wind over the earth so that the floodwaters begin to subside, a concrete meteorological use under divine providence.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
The Lord employs a strong east wind through the night to drive back the sea and open dry ground for Israel.
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed that Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they never did so again.
The Spirit resting on Moses is placed on the seventy elders, who prophesy when the Spirit rests on them.
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.
After David's anointing, the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him within the narrative's transfer of royal appointment.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
The repentant worshiper asks God for a clean heart and a renewed right spirit within, focusing on inward moral restoration.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
The promised Davidic ruler receives the resting Spirit of the Lord, described through wisdom, counsel, strength, knowledge, and holy fear.
And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
God promises to put His Spirit within the restored people and to cause covenant obedience to His statutes and ordinances.
Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord God says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”
The dry-bones vision repeats rûaḥ as breath and winds when the prophet summons life into the slain at God's command.
Before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The poem pairs dust returning to the ground with the spirit returning to God, its giver, in a meditation on death.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Invisible animating force: from physical wind/breath to spiritual presence, divine agency, and human consciousness.
Invisible animating force: from physical wind/breath to spiritual presence, divine agency, and human consciousness.
wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions) BDB: breath Usage: air, anger, blast, breath, × cool, courage, mind, × quarter, × side, spirit(-ual), tempest, × vain, (whirl-) wind(-y).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 378 lexical occurrence verses.
Trustworthiness flows from inner moral character.Hosea 12:1-6
The Messiah’s authority and character flow from the Spirit’s abiding presence.Hosea 4:11-19
Giving birth to wind underscores futility without divine action.Hosea 4:11-19
Marks the divine source of renewal and transformation.Isaiah 11:1-10
The spirit of judgment and burning underscores that purification is accomplished by God’s active power.Isaiah 26:12-18
Symbolizes the insubstantial nature of false gods.Isaiah 32:9-20
Signals divine empowerment and renewal.Isaiah 4:2-6
Highlights divine empowerment in redemptive sending.Isaiah 41:21-29
Symbol of emptiness and futility.
Describes controlling impulse of idolatry.
Wind imagery signals impending dispersal judgment.
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Rûaḥ requires readers to honor both lexical relationship and referential difference. Genesis 8 and Exodus 14 describe wind, including wind used providentially by God. Psalm 51 uses spirit language for inward moral renewal, and Ecclesiastes 12 speaks about the spirit returning to its giver at death. Other passages clearly name God's Spirit: the elders prophesy when the Spirit rests on them, David receives royal empowerment, Isaiah's promised ruler bears the Spirit's wisdom and holy fear, and Ezekiel promises God's indwelling Spirit as the source of covenant obedience.
Ezekiel 37 displays the word's literary power by moving among breath and winds in a vision whose interpretation concerns Israel's restoration. A teacher should neither dissolve these meanings into unrelated dictionary entries nor merge them into one supernatural sense. The Spirit of God acts personally and purposefully; recipients remain accountable, and spiritual claims require testing.
This matters pastorally wherever leaders appeal to divine prompting, people experience trauma or mental illness, or end-of-life texts are discussed. No lexical gloss authorizes manipulation, amateur diagnosis, contempt for medical care, or exemption from church discipline and lawful protection.
Ezek.36.27
H7307 is a feminine noun used for wind, breath, vitality, disposition, human spirit, spiritual beings, and God's Spirit. Construct chains, possessive suffixes, divine names, governing verbs, and genre help identify the referent. English capitalization is interpretive, and repeated senses can be intentionally activated in poetry or vision without becoming identical.
New Testament pneuma texts receive Old Testament themes of creation, prophetic speech, messianic anointing, new birth, indwelling, gifts, holiness, and outpouring. Acts 2 explicitly reads Joel's promise within Pentecost, while the Gospels present the Spirit resting on and empowering Jesus. Each Greek passage still requires its own syntax and context rather than inheriting every H7307 sense.