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Hebrew verb · H5301

נָפַח

naphachnaw-fakh'

to breathe

12 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: nâphach

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H5301is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 7 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 12
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H5301

to puff, in various applications (literally, to inflate, blow hard, scatter, kindle, expire; figuratively, to disesteem)

The King James renders it: blow, breath, give up, cause to lose (life), seething, snuff.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

naphach is rendered "to breathe". It stands 12 times in the Hebrew text, across seven books.

  • Three of the uses stand in Job, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 2:7Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
  • The Greek text spells it twelve different ways.

The first use

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7וַיִּפַּ֥ח

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Three of the word's twelve uses are in Job.

The other 32 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • blown upon2
  • and blow1
  • and he blew1
  • and I blew1
  • and I will blow1
  • and you sniff at1
  • blows1
  • I have caused to breathe out1
  • it has been fanned1
  • it has panted1
  • to blow1

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

נָפַלnaphalto fall: fallUses435
נָפַץnaphatsto shatterUses22
נָפַשׁnaphashbe refreshedUses3

All 12, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

12 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • הִפָּֽחְתִּי׃1
  • וְהִפַּחְתֶּ֣ם1
  • וַיִּפַּ֥ח1
  • וְנָפַחְתִּ֥י1
  • וְנָפַ֣חְתִּי1
  • וּפְחִ֛י1
  • לָפַֽחַת־1
  • נָפ֣וּחַ1
  • נָפ֙וּחַ֙1
  • נֹפֵ֙חַ֙1
  • נֻפָּ֑ח1
  • נָפְחָ֥ה1

The grammar of each form

  • Hc/Vqq1cs2Hc/Vqq1cs
  • verb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singular2HVqsmsa
  • Hc/Vhq2mp1Hc/Vhq2mp
  • conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), command · 2nd person feminine singular1HC/Vqv2fs
  • Hc/Vqw3ms1Hc/Vqw3ms
  • preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)1HR/Vqcc
  • verb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular1HVhp1cs
  • verb · intensive passive (pual), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVPp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqp3fs
  • verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular1HVqrmsa

Genesis

one use
  • Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

    Genesis 2:7

    • וַיִּפַּ֥חvaiyipachHc/Vqw3mstagged: and he blew

Job

three uses
  • Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

    Job 20:26

    • נֻפָּ֑חnupachverb · intensive passive (pual), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: it has been fanned
  • if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

    Job 31:39

    • הִפָּֽחְתִּי׃hipachetiverb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I have caused to breathe out
  • Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

    Job 41:20

    • נָפ֣וּחַnafuachverb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singulartagged: blown upon

Isaiah

one use
  • Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.

    Isaiah 54:16

    • נֹפֵ֙חַ֙nofeachverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: blows

Jeremiah

two uses
  • Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”

    Jeremiah 1:13

    • נָפ֙וּחַ֙nafuachverb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singulartagged: blown upon
  • The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. And the rest I will put to the sword in the presence of their enemies,” declares the LORD.

    Jeremiah 15:9

    • נָפְחָ֥הnafechahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it has panted

Ezekiel

three uses
  • Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.

    Ezekiel 22:20

    • לָפַֽחַת־lafachat-preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to blow
  • Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.

    Ezekiel 22:21

    • וְנָפַחְתִּ֥יvenafachtiHc/Vqq1cstagged: and I will blow
  • Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live!”

    Ezekiel 37:9

    • וּפְחִ֛יufechiconjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), command · 2nd person feminine singulartagged: and blow

Haggai

one use
  • You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

    Haggai 1:9

    • וְנָפַ֣חְתִּיvenafachtiHc/Vqq1cstagged: and I blew

Malachi

one use
  • You also say: ‘Oh, what a nuisance!’ And you turn up your nose at it,” says the LORD of Hosts. “You bring offerings that are stolen, lame, or sick! Should I accept these from your hands?” asks the LORD.

    Malachi 1:13

    • וְהִפַּחְתֶּ֣םvehipachtemHc/Vhq2mptagged: and you sniff at

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →