ψυχή
soul
‘soul’ is one of 6 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Accusative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Vocative
- The case of direct address (“O Lord”).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Every verse where G5590 appears in the Book of Romans — 4 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Romans
- Romans 2:9 ψυχὴν n acc sg fem oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, on the Jew first, and also on the Greek.
- Romans 11:3 ψυχήν n acc sg fem "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life."
- Romans 13:1 ψυχὴ n nom sg fem Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.
- Romans 16:4 ψυχῆς n gen sg fem who for my life, laid down their own necks; to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
ψυχη (psychḗ) is a Greek noun most often rendered “soul.” Its lexical range runs to 6 senses. The Greek New Testament uses it across 92 verses — moderately common. Debuting at Matthew 2:20, it then recurs through the corpus. Related forms include ψυχω, ψυχος and ψυχικος. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G5590 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 92
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 92 distinct verses.
- 19 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 19 of 27 New Testament books.
- #160
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 160 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 92 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 92 distinct verses.
- Gospels 39 verses · 42%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 27 verses · 29%
- Johannine 18 verses · 20%
- Pauline corpus 13 verses · 14%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 12 verses · 13%
- Revelation 7 verses · 8%
- Hebrews 6 verses · 7%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Soul 39×, Life 34×, Souls 18×
- American Standard Version: Life 37×, Soul 33×, Souls 19×
- Berean Standard Bible: Life 33×, Soul 23×, Souls 15×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Life 39×, Soul 37×, Souls 23×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G5590 across 104 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G5590 across 106 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G5590 across 89 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 13 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G5590 across 116 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 6 senses Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- breath
- life
- that in which there is life
- the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.)
- the (human) soul in so far as it is constituted that by the right use of the aids offered it by God it can attain its…
- the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the…
Word origin
Derived from ψυχω (psýchō) (G5594) — to blow.
From G5594 ; breath that is (by implication) spirit abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151 which is the rational and immortal soul ; and on the other from G2222 which is mere vitality even of plants : these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the hebrew [ H5315 ] [ H7307 ] and [field*\fldinst HYPERLINK "tw://[self]?H2416" H2416]: - heart (+ -ily) life mind soul + us + you.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 12 distinct written forms G5590 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| ψυχὴν psychḕn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 2:20 | 31 |
| ψυχὰς psychàs | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | Luke 21:19 | 13 |
| ψυχῆς psychē̂s | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 16:26 | 12 |
| ψυχήν psychḗn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Luke 12:20 | 9 |
| ψυχή psychḗ | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 12:18 | 8 |
| ψυχὴ psychḕ | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 6:25 | 8 |
| ψυχῇ psychē̂ | Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 6:25 | 8 |
| ψυχῶν psychō̂n | Noun, Genitive, Plural, Feminine | Acts 27:10 | 5 |
| ψυχαῖς psychaîs | Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Matthew 11:29 | 3 |
| ψυχάς psychás | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | 1 Thessalonians 2:8 | 2 |
| ψυχαὶ psychaì | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | Acts 2:41 | 2 |
| ψυχαί psychaí | Noun, Nominative, Plural, Feminine | 1 Peter 3:20 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G5590, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ψυχη appears 740 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 675 verses in 32 books.
- 740
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 675
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 32 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 32 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 1:20 ψυχή
- Exodus 1:5 ψυχή
- Leviticus 2:1 ψυχή
- Numbers 5:2 ψυχή
- Deuteronomy 4:9 ψυχή
- Joshua 2:13 ψυχή
- Judges 5:18 ψυχή
- Ruth 4:15 ψυχή
- 1 Samuel 1:10 ψυχή
- 2 Samuel 1:9 ψυχή
- 1 Kings 1:12 ψυχή
- 2 Kings 1:13 ψυχή
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G5590) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 675. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 1:20 ψυχή God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky."
- Genesis 1:21 ψυχή God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:24 ψυχή God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind," and it was so.
- Genesis 1:30 ψυχή To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And it was so.
- Genesis 2:7 ψυχή Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Genesis 2:19 ψυχή Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
- Genesis 9:4 ψυχή But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.
- Genesis 9:5 ψυχή I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man.
- Genesis 9:10 ψυχή and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every animal of the earth with you. Of all that go out of the ark, even every animal of the earth.
- Genesis 9:12 ψυχή God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
- Genesis 9:15 ψυχή and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
- Genesis 9:16 ψυχή The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
- Genesis 12:5 ψυχή Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls who they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came.
- Genesis 12:13 ψυχή Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."
- Genesis 17:14 ψυχή The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."
- Genesis 19:17 ψυχή It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, neither stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!"
- Genesis 19:19 ψυχή See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
- Genesis 19:20 ψυχή See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."
- Genesis 23:8 ψυχή He talked with them, saying, "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
- Genesis 27:4 ψυχή Make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, and that my soul may bless you before I die."
- Genesis 27:19 ψυχή Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me."
- Genesis 27:25 ψυχή He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless you." He brought it near to him, and he ate. He brought him wine, and he drank.
- Genesis 27:31 ψυχή He also made savory food, and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that your soul may bless me."
- Genesis 32:31 ψυχή The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.
- Genesis 34:3 ψυχή His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.
- Genesis 34:8 ψυχή Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
- Genesis 35:18 ψυχή It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni, but his father named him Benjamin.
- Genesis 37:21 ψυχή Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life."
- Genesis 41:8 ψυχή It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men of it. Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
- Genesis 42:21 ψυχή They said one to another, "We are most assuredly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come on us."
- Genesis 44:30 ψυχή Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life;
- Genesis 46:15 ψυχή These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
- Genesis 46:18 ψυχή These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.
- Genesis 46:22 ψυχή These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
- Genesis 46:25 ψυχή These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.
- Genesis 46:26 ψυχή All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were sixty-six.
- Genesis 46:27 ψυχή The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
- Genesis 49:6 ψυχή My soul, don't come into their council; My glory, don't be united to their assembly; For in their anger they killed a man, In their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
- Exodus 1:5 ψυχή All the souls who came out of the Jacob's body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.
- Exodus 4:19 ψυχή Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."
- Exodus 12:4 ψυχή and if the household be too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
- Exodus 12:15 ψυχή Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
- Exodus 12:16 ψυχή In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.
- Exodus 12:19 ψυχή Seven days shall there be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.
- Exodus 15:9 ψυχή The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'
- Exodus 16:16 ψυχή This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall you take it, every man for those who are in his tent."
- Exodus 21:23 ψυχή But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
- Exodus 21:30 ψυχή If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.
- Exodus 23:9 ψυχή "You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, seeing you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 30:12 ψυχή "When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G5590) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
