Usage of the words for body, heart, soul and spirit

Hebrew	simple meaning	English equiv.	developed meanings
ba·sar	outer (visible) person	flesh/body	physical body
lév	inner (invisible) person	heart	mind/thought/will
nephesh	living (breathing) person	soul	emotions/feelings/self
ru·ach	breath/wind/animation	spirit	energy/strength

Examples from the Bible - Heart as:

mind	Job 12:3; Ecc 9:3
knowledge	Deut 8:5
thinking	Isaiah 10:7; Psalm 73:7; Job 17:11
memory	1 Samuel 21:13; Job 22:22
will	1 Sam 7:3; 1 Chr 29:18; 2 Chr 20:33; Deut 29:17; Exodus 14:5
conscience	Job 27:6
moral character	1 Chon 29:17; Deut 9:5; Gen 20:5,6

Examples from the Bible - Person/Self/Soul as:

that which breathes	Isaiah 10:18; Deut 12:25
departs at death	Genesis 35:18
has hunger	Psalm 107:9
has thirst	Jer 31:25
desires	Deut 12:20; Deut 23:25
loathes	Leviticus 26:11
has sorrow	Judges 18:25
has joy	Psalm 35:9
loves	Song of Sol 1:7
hates	Jer 6:8
other emotions	Psalm 19:8; Ezek 24:21; Numbers 21:4

 

Breath/Spirit appears 378 times in Old Testament:

breath	Psalm 135:17; Jer 10:14
word of command	Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 11:4
"snorting" with anger	Job 4:9; Exodus 15:8
sign of life	Gen 6:17; 7:15
wind	Gen 8:1 "he made ruach blow over the earth"
emptiness	Job 7:7 "my life is ruach"
animation	1 Kings 10:5; 1 Kings 21:5
anger	Judges 9:23 "God sent an evil ruach between them" i.e. God allowed a feud to develop
impatience	Micah 2:7 being "short of ruach"
administrative skill	Genesis 41:38 "a man in whom ruach of God is"
God's breath/spirit
gives life	Zech 12:1; Gen 6:3
inspires ecstatic prophesy	Numbers 11:17,25
impels prophet to give warning	Numbers 24:2
gives warlike energy and executive administrative power	Judges 3:10; Isaiah 11:2; Judges 14:6
gives technical skill	Exodus 31:3
is God's presence	Haggai 2:5; Psalm 143:10; Nehemiah 9:20 Zechariah 4:6; Psalm 139:7
"holy spirit" 3 times in OT	Isaiah 63:9 - 11 Holy Spirit = angel of the presence!
	Psalm 51: 11 probably the same meaning as above

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