• Wonderfully Made to Stay Alive
    Awake!—1988 | August 8

    • Interestingly, the first book of the Bible, written 3,500 years ago, uses the Hebrew word neʹphesh to describe both man and animals. This word literally means “a breather.”a In a medically accurate manner, the Bible shows that breathing sustains life and that without “the breath of the force of life . . . active in its nostrils,” both man and animals quickly die.​—Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, 30; 2:7; 7:22.

      Other ancient writings contain unfounded speculation about the purpose of breathing. Greek and Roman philosophers, for example, had a strange theory that breathing kept a fire burning within the heart and that this internal flame provided the body with needed warmth.

  • Wonderfully Made to Stay Alive
    Awake!—1988 | August 8

    • a In Bible translations the Hebrew word neʹphesh is rendered in different ways, sometimes as “soul,” sometimes as “living creature,” sometimes as “life,” or by the use of some other word. The New World Translation consistently renders it “soul.”