• What the Bible Says About Life and Death
    The Watchtower (Public)—2017 | No. 4

    • THE BIBLE SETS THINGS STRAIGHT

      The Genesis account of creation says: “Jehovah God went on to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living person.” The expression “a living person” is translated from the Hebrew word ne’phesh,a which literally means “a breathing creature.”​—Genesis 2:7, footnote.

      The Bible thus makes clear that humans are not created as individuals with a soul that is immortal. Rather, each individual is “a living person.” That is why, search as you may, you will not find any Bible text that uses the expression “immortal soul.”

  • What the Bible Says About Life and Death
    The Watchtower (Public)—2017 | No. 4

    • a Some Bible translations, such as the King James Version and the Catholic Douay Version, render ne’phesh by the words “living soul,” whereas many modern translations render it “living creature,” The New English Bible; “living being,” New International Version and The Jerusalem Bible; or simply “began to live,” Today’s English Version.