Psalm 63:1 “O Elohim, You are my Elohim; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You” Verse 5, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.” Verse 6, “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You” Verse 8, “My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.”

This Psalm mingles symbolism between the physical and spiritual so much! A soul that thirsts, a soul satisfied with food, lips and hands that praises, the soul follows, and YHWH’s Hand uphold me. There are three parts spoken of in Scripture, Body, Soul and Spirit. The body is quite easy to understand, but the soul and spirit can be very confusing. Especially when you try to bring all kinds of philosophies in from the world, and one should be careful especially because greek and rome philosophies, and even babylonian and false god philosophies tries to mingle and confuse the Scriptures. There seem to be two big standpoints today, the soul is separate from the spirit, or the soul and spirit is actually one.

It can be confusing: When you die – where does the spirit go and where does the soul go? Genesis 2:7 says, “Then YHWH Elohim formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being“. And Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to Elohim who gave it“. Could the spirit and soul be the same? After all, there are two births and two deaths. Your first birth is the body & soul when you were physically born, and your second birth is for the spirit, when you, i.e. your soul makes a decision to Teshuvah/Turn to Elohim – then your spirit connects with Elohim’s Spirit (Ruach). In Psalm 34 (click to read more) and Psalm 51 (click to read more) we talked about what it means to be born again – and the word Teshuvah H8666 – tᵊšûḇâ – which means to Return/Turn around/Come back (to YHWH). Your first death is when the body returns (Teshuvah) to the ground, and then your soul/spirit goes to Sheol to Rest/Wait. If you are not born again (second birth in the spirit), then your soul will be destroyed forever in the Final Judgement – which is the second death. The body is just the dwelling place for the soul/spirit. We have an outer man (body) and inner man (soul/spirit). When you refer to soul in general, you talk about the innerman that looks earth-wards : your feelings, heart, emotions, will, your personality – the part that feels almost “physical”, connection to earth and body. But when you refer to the spirit, you talk about the innerman that looks up-ward to Elohim : your conscience, a purpose, a spiritual identity that focusses after the body-life, after death, the forever.

The body and soul/spirit is so connected though, that your body impacts your soul, and your soul impacts your body. When your soul is depressed, it makes your body sick and non-functional. And when your body is sick, it affects your soul and spirit and can make you depressed. When Saul heard (physical body sense) David’s music, his spirit/soul was lifted. We see this also in Psalm 63, and in many of David’s Psalms – his soul longs so much for YHWH, that he expresses it physically with thirst and hunger! You body could literally long so much, that you will feel the need to go on a hunger strike, because your spirit/soul is in so much longing! In John 4:10 Yeshua even says, “If you knew the gift of Elohim and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  When you feel alone, worthless and questioning the reason for living – know that your soul is crying out for something spiritual.  Your spirit is longing for his Father – Abba YHWH.  That is where you will find living water to quench your spirit!

When you put all three together, you can say the Body is world/outer/fleshly conscience. The Soul is more inward/self conscience about yourself. The Spirit is conscious about the Spirit World, and that is where YHWH (or hasatan and all evil) communicate with you.  It just depends where the focus is, which could be both inward and outward – like David telling his soul to focus on YHWH.  If your soul is looking for answers elsewhere in the spirit world, and not from YHWH, you are opening yourself up for the darkside of the spirit world, which is how ha-satan/the enemy of YHWH and all evil can communicate with you, even without you knowing it.

Now let us look at some of the Hebrew words and their meanings, and some bible verses they are used in:

BODY (flesh/blood)

• Basar H1320 – bāśār : the body itself, all flesh, soft tissue. Genesis 2:21, “And YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh H1320 instead thereof;” and Genesis 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. H1320”
• Basar H1319 – bāśar : the root word for basar H1320, meaning News, Publish, going forth, tidings, announcement, messenger. 1 Chronicles 16:23, “Sing unto YHWH, all the earth; shew forth H1319 from day to day his salvation.”
• Seer H7607 – šᵊ’ēr : flesh, next of kin, food, blood relation, self. Psalm 73:26 “My flesh H7607 and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
• Saar H7604 – šā’ar : root word for seer H7607, meaning to be left behind, leftover, spare, survive, redundant, to swell up, the rest. Genesis 7:23, “and H7604 Noah only remained H7604 alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”

SOUL (Breath)

• Nepes H5315 – nep̄eš : soul, self, person, mind, desire, emotion, passion, inner man, the life in the blood, breathing creature. Genesis 1:20, “And Elohim said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath H5315 life”. Genesis 9:4, “But flesh H1320 with the life thereof, H5315 which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”
• Napas H5314 – nāp̄aš : root word for Nepes, meaning refreshed, to take a breath, breathed upon, air. Exodus 32:12 and 17, “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and H5314 the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. H5314”, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days YHWH made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. H5314”
• Napah H5301 – nāp̄aḥ : to breathe, blow in/out, give up or lose (life), kindle. Genesis 2:7, “And YHWH Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed H5301 into his nostrils the breath h5397(nesama) of life h2416(ha); and man became a living soul H5315.”
• Nesama H5397 – nᵊšāmâ : breath, spirit. Geneis 7:22, “All in whose nostrils was the breath H5397 of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.”
• Nasam H5395 – nāšam : root word for nesama, to pant for air/life, like a woman in labour. Isaiah 42:14, “I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy H5395 and devour at once.”

LIFE

• Hay H2416 – ḥay : living, alive, revive, active. The two symbols/letters in YHWH’s Name – the H (for Hey). Genesis 3:20, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. H2416”.
• Haya H2421 – ḥāyâ : root word for Hay, to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live forever, restored. Genesis 6:19, “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep H2421 them alive H2421 with thee; they shall be male and female.”
• Havah H2332 – ḥaûâ : Eve’s name in Hebrew is Havah, meaning life or living.
• Hava H2331 – ḥāvâ : the root word for Eve/Havah is to tell, declare, make know, show, even to breath. Psalm 19:2, “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth H2331 knowledge.”

SPIRIT

• Ruach H7307 – rûaḥ : wind, spirit, breath. Some Scriptures mentioning Ruach, refer to them as “Spirit of Elohim” – Gen 1:2, “breath/spirit of life” – Gen 7:15, “troubled spirit” like with Pharaoh or Saul – Gen 41:8, “spirit of Jacob” for example – Gen 45:27, the “east wind” that brought the locusts for the plagues on Egypt – Exo 10:13, or the strong “west wind” that blew away the locusts – Exo 10:19, “the blast H7307 of thy nostrils the waters” – Exo 15:8, or Wisdom in Exo 28:3 – “And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit H7307 of wisdom”, or even a “willing spirit” in Exo 31:3, and “jealous spirit” – Num 5:14, and many more like courage, anger, etc.
• Riah H7306 – rîaḥ : the root word for Ruach, meaning to smell or touch, to accept, to quickly understand. Genesis 8:21, “And H7306 YHWH smelled H7306 a sweet savour; and YHWH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” In Amos 5:21, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will H7306 not smell H7306 in your solemn assemblies.”