life
chay.yim denotes a person’s span of days and, in life-and-death settings, continued or enduring existence.
The term most often marks the period of a person’s living days, including actions, hardship, and enjoyment within that span. It also denotes life as existence set over against death, as the life-breath in living creatures, or as life presented as an enduring outcome.
Senses in use
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A person’s lifetime and lived days · dominant
Construct forms repeatedly occur in expressions concerning all the days of a person’s life: in 1 Kings 11:34 the APB renders Solomon’s rule as lasting “all the days of his life,” and in 1 Samuel 1:11 Hannah’s vow concerns her son’s days of life. The same period can contain hardship or enjoyment: Exodus 1:14 describes Israel’s lives as made bitter, while Ecclesiastes 9:9 speaks of enjoying life during the days given under the sun.
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Life as existence or its preservation · common
Absolute forms occur where life stands in direct contrast to death or is described as something granted, threatened, or continuing. In Deuteronomy 30:19 the APB renders life and death as the alternatives set before Israel; Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 6:17 place the term in clauses about the breath of life in creatures; Daniel 12:2 describes awakening “to life forever.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “life” or expressions such as “days of his life,” and in Genesis it renders surrounding clauses with “breath of life.” Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those English expressions identify the verse’s presentation rather than a fixed rendering for every token.