Job 32 · a question people ask

"The Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding" (32:8). What is the Hebrew word behind Spirit here, and where else does it come?

In the text

Start with the words. In Hebrew 32:8 has two words where the WEB has spirit: "a spirit in man" is ruach, and "the Spirit of the Almighty" is nishmat Shaddai, from neshamah, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "breath" (tap spirit, Spirit of the Almighty). Elihu uses the same two words together again: "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (33:4), where breath of the Almighty is the same nishmat Shaddai. Job has both words in one verse too: "the spirit of God is in my nostrils" (27:3), with neshamah earlier in the verse. Elihu has the two words together again in "his spirit and his breath" (34:14). And neshamah is the word of Genesis, where the LORD God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). These verses sit beside 32:8 as parallels. The chapter doesn't say more about what Elihu meant, or whether what he claims for himself is so, and these notes don't decide either.

The verses

“But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.”
Job 32:8 · World English Bible
“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
Job 33:4 · World English Bible
“(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);”
Job 27:3 · World English Bible
“If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,”
Job 34:14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 32

Job 32: A spirit in man

Elihu says "the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding" (32:8), and one chapter later "the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (33:4): in Hebrew the same two words. And before Elihu says a word, the book gives the reasons for his anger, against Job and against the three friends (32:2-3), without saying whether he was right.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions