All: The inner life in Scripture's own words

The inner life in Scripture's own words

psyche: "life" and "soul" are the same word, one verse apart

What the lexicon says. ψυχή (psyche) is introduced "[in LXX very frequently for נֶפֶשׁ]", the Greek soul word standing for the Hebrew one, and its first sense is "breath (Lat. anima), breath of life, life", with the second "the soul, as the seat of the will, desires and affections" and a third use "as a periphrasis for person or self". Strong's notes that psyche, pneuma and zoe "exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew H5315, H7307 and H2416".

The two adjacent verses. "For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25, ASV). "For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?" (Matthew 16:26, ASV), where the KJV instead prints "lose his own soul" and "in exchange for his soul" (Matthew 16:26, KJV). The tagged text carries G5590H, the sense glossed "life", in verse 25, and G5590G, the sense glossed "soul", in verse 26.

The Greek lemma is ψυχή in both. The sense letters are a tagger's judgement recorded in the data, and the English versions follow it or do not.

The counts, split. G5590 divides five ways: "soul" (G5590G) in 46 verses, "life" (G5590H) in 34, and three smaller senses, 96 in all.

Sources: Matthew 16:25-26 (ASV and KJV); TBESG entries G5590G and G5590H; Strong's Greek Dictionary (1890), entry G5590.

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  • Matthew 16:25bsb

    For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

  • Matthew 16:26bsb

    What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

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psyche: "life" and "soul" are the same word, one verse apart · Bubble Bible