H2416

• {"n":"Genesis 2:7b","s":"Man became a living soul. The same phrase is used of the animals.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=genesis-2-7b","r":"Genesis 2:7","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"The King James reads a living soul here and a living creature at Genesis 1:24 for the same two words. Modern versions read living being or living creature in both places, which is the correction."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**She is a living creature.** That is a statement about being alive, not about having an invisible part. Now imagine your translation used a more spiritual-sounding word in one place and a plainer one somewhere else, for the same original phrase."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Nephesh chayyah. The phrase appears at Genesis 1:20, 21, 24 and 30 of sea creatures, birds and land animals. Nephesh is closer to a life, a self, an appetite, even a throat, than to an immaterial soul. The verse says the man became alive, not that he received a soul the animals lack."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English soul carries centuries of Greek and Christian anthropology that Hebrew nephesh does not. There is no neutral English word, and creature sounds dismissive where soul sounds elevated."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"When one Hebrew phrase is rendered two different ways in the same book, look up the other occurrences. Translators sometimes signal a theology by their choice of English word, and the King James does it here."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"No Hebrew dispute. Modern versions have standardised on living being, and the King James rendering is the one that produced the popular reading."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05e0\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 nephesh chayyah \u00b7 H5315 + H2416"}],"src":["The identical phrase at Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, 30","nephesh as throat or appetite: Isaiah 5:14; Proverbs 23:2","Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, on nephesh"]}
• {"n":"chayim","s":"Life. Plural in form, singular in meaning.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=chayim","r":"Deuteronomy 30:19","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Every version reads life."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**Goods.** **Wits.** English has plural nouns for single ideas and nobody argues about them."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Chayim is plural in form and means life. Hebrew uses plural forms for several abstractions and for some single objects, which is why a plural form on its own proves very little."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"A few English nouns follow the same pattern, so nothing is lost here. What matters is the precedent it sets for reading other plurals."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"Before drawing a conclusion from a plural form in Hebrew, check whether the word is simply plural by nature. Many are."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Life is universal."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd chayim \u00b7 H2416"}],"src":["chayim at Genesis 2:7; Deuteronomy 30:19; Proverbs 3:2","Other plural abstractions: zequnim, old age; betulim, virginity","Compare elohim, plural in form"]}