The Hebrew words behind “soul” and “heart”: nephesh, 757 times, which the BSB renders soul, life or simply “myself”; and lev or levav, 848 times, the place a person thinks as well as feels.
Nephesh is the whole living self, not a part of it. The first man “became a living nephesh”, the BSB’s “living being”; the same word is a person’s life, breath and appetite, and in Numbers even a dead body. So the BSB renders it “soul” in only about a quarter of its uses, “life” almost as often, and as often again simply “me”, “myself” or “yourselves”. The heart, lev or the longer levav, is where a person thinks and decides as well as feels: Solomon asks for “an understanding heart”, and where English says “mind” the Hebrew often has heart. Deuteronomy 6:5 joins the two, “with all your heart and with all your soul”.
Deuteronomy 6:5, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
נֶפֶשׁ nephesh 757 times
לֵב · לֵבָב lev · levav 848 times
Heart is two spellings of one word: lev 596 times, levav 252. In Hebrew the heart is where a person thinks and decides as well as feels, which is why the BSB sometimes says “mind”. Nephesh is the whole living self rather than a part of it: “soul” is only one of its English words, and in about one use in four the BSB says “me”, “myself” or “yourselves”.
Where translations choose differently
| Verse | KJV | BSB |
|---|---|---|
| Leviticus 16:29 | “afflict your souls” | “humble yourselves” |
| Proverbs 22:17 | “apply thine heart” | “apply your mind” |
Counted in the site’s Hebrew text by Strong’s number (H5315; H3820 and H3824), with the BSB’s English for each word from its translation tables. “No English word of its own” is a word the BSB folds into a neighbouring phrase or leaves untranslated.