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Shalom to all. Sometimes, people will refer to an "eternal soul" or an "immortal soul" and will think of the "soul" as the "real you," as opposed to a person's body, but I'd like to discuss this point. The ramifications of the definition of such a thing as a "soul" are HUGE! And, how a person defines "soul" will determine how one looks at our final destiny. What does God promise about the future and how does it involve a person's "soul?" Let me start with a few basic points, and we'll go from there: First, the words translated as "soul" in the Scriptures are ... "nefesh," spelled "nun-(segol)-fei-(segol)-shin," in the Hebrew of the TANAKH (the OT), often written "nephesh," and ... "psuchee," spelled "psi-upsilon-chi-eta," in the Greek of the B'rit Chadashah (the NT), often written "psuche" or "psyche." Here are the entries in the dictionaries of Strong's Exhaustive Concordance that correspond directly or indirectly to the word "soul": 5315 nephesh [nefesh] (neh'-fesh). From naphash; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. Animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental) -- any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead(-ly), desire, X (dis-)contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-)self, them (your)-selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it. 5314 naphash [naafash] (naw-fash'). A primitive root; to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon, i.e. (figuratively) refreshed (as if by a current of air) -- (be) refresh selves (-ed). 5590 psuche [psuchee] (psoo-khay'). From psucho [psuchoo]; breath, i.e. (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from pneuma, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from zoe, [zooee], which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew nephesh, ruwach and chay) -- heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you. 5594 psucho [psuchoo] (psoo-kho'). A primary verb; to breathe (voluntarily but gently, thus differing on the one hand from pneo [pneoo], which denotes properly a forcible respiration; and on the other from the base of aer [aeer], which refers properly to an inanimate breeze), i.e. (by implication, of reduction of temperature by evaporation) to chill (figuratively) -- wax cold. This introduces us to a few more terms we should consider (presented in the order is which they were introduced) for this discussion: 4151 pneuma (pnyoo'-mah). From pneo [pneoo]; a current of air, i.e. Breath (blast) or a ; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit -- ghost, life, spirit(-ual, -ually), mind. Compare psuche. 2222 zoe [zooee] (zo-ay'). From zao [zaoo]; life (literally or figuratively) -- life(-time). Compare psuche [psuchee]. 7307 ruwach (roo'-akh). From ruwach (too-akh'); wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. A sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions) -- air, anger, blast, breath, X cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit((-ual)), tempest, X vain, ((whirl-))wind(-y). 2416 chay (khah-ee'). From chayah; alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively -- + age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life(-time), live(-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop. 4154 pneo [pneoo] (pneh'-o). A primary word; to breathe hard, i.e. Breeze -- blow. Compare psucho [psuchoo]. 109 aer [aeer] (ah-ayr'). From aemi [aeemi] (to breathe unconsciously, i.e. Respire; by analogy, to blow); "air" (as naturally circumambient) -- air. Compare psucho [psuchoo]. and, 2198 zao [zaoo] (dzah'-o). A primary verb; to live (literally or figuratively) -- life(-time), (a-)live(-ly), quick. 2421 chayah [chaayaah] (khaw-yaw). A primitive root (compare chavah, chayah); to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive -- keep (live, make) alive, X certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (X God) save (alive, life, lives), X surely, be whole. The first occurrence of the word nefesh is NOT about the creation of the Man, Adam. The first occurrences are on a day earlier in the Creation Week: Genesis 1:20-23 (KJV) 20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. The important verse is ... Genesis 2:7 (KJV) 7 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. This verse doesn't say anything about the LORD God forming the BODY of the man; it says that He formed the MAN of the dust of the ground! Then, He breathed into the nostrils of the man a puff of life, and the MAN became a living SOUL! a living, AiR-BREATHING CREATURE! Now, notice the curse for Adam's sin: Genesis 3:17-19 (KJV) 17 And unto Adam he [God] said, "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat of it': cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." God didn't say his BODY was made of dust; He said to Adam, "YOU shall return unto the ground, for out of the ground YOU were taken!" He concludes "YOU are dust, and to dust YOU shall return!"