ne.phesh denotes a person's life or self, including inward desire, distress, and the individual counted among others.

The sampled clauses most often use the noun for a person's life under threat, preservation, or loss. It also names the inward self in desire, devotion, grief, and personal attachment; can designate an individual person in a count; and occurs in statements about life returning, blood, and solemn life-based affirmations.

1. A person's life at stake · dominant

   Construct forms occur where life is sought, saved, risked, or required. In 1 Kings 19:10 the APB renders the clause "they seek my life to take it," while 1 Kings 20:42 sets one person's life against another's in a judgment; 1 Samuel 19:11 likewise joins escape with avoiding death.

   1 Kings 19:101 Kings 19:41 Kings 20:421 Samuel 19:111 Samuel 22:23Deuteronomy 19:21
2. The inward self in desire and devotion · common

   The construct noun accompanies heart in wholehearted seeking and return: 1 Chronicles 22:19 calls for giving heart and this term to seek the LORD, and 1 Kings 8:48 describes return with all heart and all soul. In 1 Kings 11:37 it marks what a ruler desires, while 1 Samuel 1:15 places Hannah's poured-out inner self before the LORD.

   1 Chronicles 22:191 Kings 11:371 Kings 8:481 Samuel 1:151 Samuel 20:42 Kings 23:3
3. The person as an individual or count · occasional

   Plural and singular forms can identify people themselves rather than their endangered lives. In Exodus 12:4 the APB renders a household calculation "according to the number of souls," and Deuteronomy 10:22 speaks of seventy who went down to Egypt; 1 Chronicles 5:21 includes one hundred thousand people among captured livestock.

   Exodus 12:4Deuteronomy 10:221 Chronicles 5:211 Samuel 22:22
4. Life associated with bodily vitality · occasional

   In 1 Kings 17:21 the construct noun is requested to return upon the youth's inward parts; in 1 Kings 17:22 the same return is followed by "and he lived." Deuteronomy 12:23 directly places the term in the clause about blood and flesh.

   1 Kings 17:211 Kings 17:22Deuteronomy 12:232 Samuel 14:14
5. The self in attachment, grief, or oath · occasional

   The noun can mark the self in intensely personal relations and expressions. In 1 Samuel 18:1 Jonathan's soul is bound to David's and he loves him as his own soul; 1 Samuel 1:10 describes Hannah as bitter of soul. In 1 Samuel 17:55 and 1 Samuel 20:3, the APB renders the phrase "as your soul lives" as part of an affirmation.

   1 Samuel 18:11 Samuel 18:31 Samuel 1:101 Samuel 17:551 Samuel 20:32 Samuel 17:8

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB often uses "life" in danger, rescue, and legal-payment clauses, while it uses "soul" in devotion, emotion, personal attachment, counts, and the youth's return to life. These renderings show the verse-level presentation rather than fixed English equivalents.