What does נְשָׁמָה · חַי mean in the Bible?
נְשָׁמָה · חַי is a Hebrew phrase meaning "breath of life".
Hebrew · H5397, H2416
נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים
A puff , i.e. wind , angry or vital breath , divine inspiration , intellect . or (concretely) an animal · alive ; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong ; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
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What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
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Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
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Words in this compound — expand to study each participant
נְשָׁמָה H5397 a puff , i.e. wind , angry or vital breath , divine inspiration , intellect . or (concretely) an animal
Pronunciation neshāmāh
Animating breath linking physical life, divine inspiration, and human intellect within single semantic field.
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חַי H2416 alive ; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong ; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
Pronunciation ḥay
Life principle extending from physical vitality (raw, fresh, strong) to covenantal presence and relational aliveness with God.
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What does נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat chayyim) mean in the Bible?
נְשָׁמָה · חַי is a Hebrew phrase meaning "breath of life".
Full entry for נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (H5397, H2416) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How many biblical occurrences are listed for H5397, H2416?
H5397, H2416 is connected to 527 lexical occurrence verses in the lexicon data.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew phrase. breath of life
Strong's H5397, H2416
Lexical occurrences 527 verses Source Gloss
breath of life
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים is built from this root:
נָשַׁם H5395
Cross-Language Connections
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain