Abstract

The terms “soul,” “spirit,” “breath,” and “life” occur several times each in the Book of Job. A proper understanding of these terms in Scripture, especially “soul” and “spirit” is integral to understanding the state of the dead, among others. These terms are used in diverse contexts with interchangeable nuances in the Book of Job. A living person consists of the body/flesh plus the life principle of which “breath” is a concrete expression. In poetic contexts, the terminologies denote the physical, appetitive, psychical, and emotional characteristics of the human being. While “soul” and “life” tend towards physicality and therefore can be used synonymously for the whole person, “spirit” and “breath” tend towards non-physicality and express such phenomena as intellection and wind. A study of these terminologies in other poetic texts in the Hebrew Bible may evince similar semantic configurations as found in the Book of Job.