Word study
Spirit
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
In brief
One word in each language does almost all the work: Hebrew ruah and Greek pneuma. Both can mean wind, breath, or spirit, and the setting decides which. They are used of the Spirit of God, of the human spirit, and of other spirits. Because one word covers all three senses, passages such as Ezekiel 37 and John 3 can move between wind, breath and Spirit in a way English cannot quite show.
Written and reviewed by our editorial team.
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: spirit, spirits. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “Spirit” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רוּחַ rûachbreath, wind, spirittranslated this way 197 times of its 368 uses · Strong’s H7307Noun · Translated: spirit 189, wind 83, breath 31, winds 8Full study and all 343 verses →
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Exodus 6:9 Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.
- רוּחַ rûachwind, spirittranslated this way 9 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H7308Noun · Translated: spirit 9, wind 1, winds 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Daniel 4:8 But at last, into my presence came Daniel (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods). And I told him the dream:
Daniel 4:9 “O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery baffles you. So explain to me the visions I saw in my dream, and their interpretation.
- רָפָא râphâlax, ghost, deadtranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7496Noun · Translated: dead 4, departed spirits 3, spirits of the dead 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Psalm 88:10 Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Proverbs 2:18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- אוֹב ôbskin-bottle, necromancertranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H178Noun · Translated: mediums 9, medium 5, spirit 1, wineskin 1Full study and all 16 verses →
1 Samuel 28:8 So Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and he set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I name.”
Isaiah 29:4 You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
- לֵב lêbinner man, mind, will, hearttranslated this way 2 times of its 526 uses · Strong’s H3820Noun · Translated: heart 326, hearts 78, mind 30, judgment 11Full study and all 495 verses →
1 Samuel 25:36 When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
2 Kings 5:26 But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants?
- נְשָׁמָה neshâmâhbreathtranslated this way 2 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5397Noun · Translated: breath 14, breathed 4, blast 2, spirit 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Job 26:4 To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πνεῦμα pneûmawind, breath, spirittranslated this way 352 times of its 378 uses · Strong’s G4151Noun · Translated: Spirit 320, spirits 32, breath 3, wind 1Full study and all 343 verses →
Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:8 I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about Spirit: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.