Extended Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (Brown-Driver-Briggs based)
breath
Usage: 1) breath, spirit 1a) breath (of God) 1b) breath (of man) 1c) every breathing thing 1d) spirit (of man) Aramaic equivalent: nish.ma (נִשְׁמָא "breath" H5396)
Neshamah means “inspiration” — full meaning, definition, and every linked Bible usage across the indexed canon.
Same number, other testament: Strong's G5397 — phlyaros (“tattler”) in the Greek Bible.
Strong's H5397 נְשָׁמָה (nshamah) is a Hebrew Strong's word-study entry. nshamah (nesh-aw-maw') n-f. 1. a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal [from H5395] It has 24 linked Bible usages across 10 books. Visible English usage signals include breath, breathed, breatheth, and inspiration. Indexed coverage on this page includes Old Testament.
nshamah (nesh-aw-maw') n-f. 1. a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal [from H5395] KJV: blast, (that) breath(-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit. Root(s): H5395
How independent scholarly lexicons define Strong's H5397. Each definition is shown with its source so you can compare and cite the original reference works.
breath
Usage: 1) breath, spirit 1a) breath (of God) 1b) breath (of man) 1c) every breathing thing 1d) spirit (of man) Aramaic equivalent: nish.ma (נִשְׁמָא "breath" H5396)
The English word each shown verse actually uses to render nshamah, taken from the interlinear word alignment (the same word underlined in the excerpts below). Where a rendering is used more than once, the count is shown.
Indexed coverage includes Old Testament. Each section below keeps corpus counts and sample passages visible so readers can compare the word across contexts instead of reading one flat concordance list.
Indexed usage grouped by testament and extended corpus so readers can compare this word across the Bible, Septuagint, deuterocanonical books, and 1 Enoch where present.
24 indexed usages in Old Testament.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
First 24 linked usage excerpts for Strong's H5397.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.
And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
Every indexed verse link for Strong's H5397, grouped by book.
Neshamah (Strong's H5397) is a Hebrew word most simply glossed "inspiration". nshamah (nesh-aw-maw') n-f. 1. a puff, i.e. wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal [from H5395]
This page currently indexes 24 linked usages for Strong's H5397 across 10 books.
Use the linked verse references on this page to study Strong's H5397 in context. The indexed coverage includes Old Testament.
The visible usage excerpts most often surface English words such as breath, breathed, breatheth, and inspiration. These are scanning signals from the displayed verses, not replacements for the original-language definition.