to breathe
na.phach denotes breathing or blowing, whether into a living body, upon fire or an object, or in actions of dismissal and loss.
The attested uses chiefly depict breath or blowing directed into or upon someone or something: into the man’s nostrils, toward the slain, upon fire, and upon an object. Other verses associate the verb with failing life, diminution, or a dismissive snort, while passive participles describe something presented as blown upon or, less clearly, “bluster.”
Senses in use
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Directing breath or air upon something · dominant
In Genesis 2:7, the Qal sequential imperfect occurs as God forms the man and the APB renders the clause “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” In Ezekiel 37:9, the Qal imperative addresses the spirit with the APB rendering “breathe into these slain”; Ezekiel 22:20, Ezekiel 22:21, Isaiah 54:16, Haggai 1:9, and Malachi 1:13 likewise place the forms in clauses about blowing on fire, people, goods, or an offering.
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Breath associated with exhaustion or loss · common
Jeremiah 15:9 places the Qal perfect in a description of the woman who “has grown faint” and whose “soul has departed.” Job 20:26 uses a Pual perfect in a clause the APB renders “he does not breathe,” while Job 31:39 has a Hiphil perfect in Job’s denial that he “diminished the life of its owners.”
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Something described as blown upon · rare
Jeremiah 1:13 uses a Qal passive participle for the pot that the APB calls “a pot blown upon.” Job 41:12 has the same supplied morphology, though the APB presents its clause as “his bluster,” so the term’s specific contribution there is less isolable.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously presents the verb with “breathed,” “breathe,” “blow,” “blows,” and “snort.” In several other clauses it gives broader outcomes such as faintness, departure of life, diminution, or “bluster”; Those renderings do not by themselves define the term.