“god breathed into man, and man became a living soul”
KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
To get what Genesis 2:7 means based on its source text, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“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.”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Hebrew | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Hebrew word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Hebrew word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “And the Lord” | יְהוָ֨ה | (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God | Lord |
| “God” | אֱלֹהִ֜ים | Gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative | God |
| “formed” | וַיִּיצֶר֩ | To mould into a form; especially as a potter; figuratively, to determine (i.e., form a resolution) | formed |
| “man” | הָֽאָדָ֗ם | Ruddy i.e., a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.) | man |
| “of” | (No Hebrew definition. English implied.) | ||
| “the dust” | עָפָר֙ | Dust (as powdered or gray); hence, clay, earth, mud | dust |
| “of” | מִן | Properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses | of |
| “the ground,” | הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה | Soil (from its general redness) | ground |
| “and breathed” | וַיִּפַּ֥ח | To puff, in various applications (literally, to inflate, blow hard, scatter, kindle, expire; figuratively, to disesteem) | breathed |
| “into his nostrils” | בְּאַפָּ֖יו | Properly, the nose or nostril; hence, the face, and occasionally a person; also (from the rapid breathing in passion) ire | nostrils |
| “the breath” | נִשְׁמַ֣ת | A puff, i.e., wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect. or (concretely) an animal | breath |
| “of life;” | חַיִּ֑ים | 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 | life |
| “and man” | הָֽאָדָ֖ם | Ruddy i.e., a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.) | man |
| “became” | וַֽיְהִ֥י | To exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary) | became |
| “a living” | חַיָּֽה׃ | 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 | living |
| “soul.” | לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ | Properly, a breathing creature, i.e., animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental) | soul |
See Genesis 2:7 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
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.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.