'Life' in the Bible

And to every kind of animal of the earth and to every bird of heaven, and to everything that moves upon the earth in which [there is] life [I am giving] every green plant as food." And it was so.

when Yahweh God formed the man [of] dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

And Yahweh God caused to grow every tree [that] was pleasing to the sight and good for food. And the tree of life [was] in the midst of the garden, {along with} the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Then Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you [will be] cursed more than any domesticated animal and more than any wild animal. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree {from which I forbade you to eat}, the ground [shall be] cursed on your account. In pain you shall eat [from] it all the days of your life.

And the man {named} his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all life.

And Yahweh God said, "Look--the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. {What if} he stretches out his hand and takes also from the tree of life and eats, and lives forever?"

So he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and {a flaming, turning sword} to guard the way to the tree of life.

And I, behold, I [am] about to bring the flood waters over the earth to destroy all flesh in which [is] the breath of life from under the heaven; everything that [is] on the earth shall perish.

In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month--on that day all the springs of the great deep were split open, and the windows of heaven were opened.

And they came to Noah to the ark, {two of each}, from every living thing in which [was] the breath of life.

Everything in whose nostrils [was] {the breath of life}, among all that [was] on dry land, died.

And Yahweh smelled the soothing fragrance, and Yahweh said {to himself}, "{Never again will I curse} the ground for the sake of humankind, because the inclination of the heart of humankind [is] evil from his youth. {Nor will I ever again destroy} all life as I have done.

And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.

And after bringing them outside [one] said, "Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed."

Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and {you have shown me great kindness} in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.

Behold, this city [is] near [enough] to flee there, and it [is a] little [one]. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little [one]? Then my life shall be saved."

And {Sarah lived} one hundred and twenty-seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.

Now these [are] the days of the years of {the life of Abraham}: one hundred and seventy-five years.

Now these [are] the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. And he passed away and died, and was gathered to his people.

And {they made life bitter} for Isaac and Rebekah.

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from Hittite women like these, from the {native women}, {what am I living for}?"

Then Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [which means] "I have seen God face to face and my life was spared."

And it happened [that] when her life was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-Oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

And Reuben heard [it] and delivered him from their hand and said, "We must not take his life."

By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison so that your words might be tested [to see] if [there is] truth with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh surely you [are] spies."

So now, when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us--now his life is bound up with his life--

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojourning [are] one hundred and thirty years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my ancestors in the days of their sojourning."

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. And the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years.

And he blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, The God who shepherded me {all my life} unto this day,

And Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt because all the men have died who [were] seeking your life."

And these [are] the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon and Kohath and Merari, and the years of the life of Levi [were] {one hundred and thirty-seven years}.

And the sons of Kohath [are] Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel, and the years of the life of Kohath [were] {one hundred and thirty-three years}.

And Amram took Jochebed his aunt for himself as a wife, and she bore for him Aaron and Moses, and the years of the life of Amram [were] {one hundred and thirty-seven years}.

And if there is serious injury, you will give life in place of life,

If a ransom is set on him, he will pay the redemption money for his life according to all that is set on him.

"{When you take a census of} the {Israelites} to count them, they will each give the ransom of his life for Yahweh when counting them, and a plague will not be among them when counting them.

Indeed the flesh's life [is] in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, because it [is] the blood with the life that makes atonement.

Indeed, [the] life of all flesh, its blood, [is] in its life, so I said to the {Israelites}, 'You may not eat [the] blood of any flesh, because [the] life of all flesh [is] its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.'

And you must not take [as wife] a woman with her sister, to be a rival-wife, to expose her nakedness before her {during} her life.

You shall not go [about with] slander among your people; {you shall not endanger your neighbor's life}; I [am] Yahweh.

And {he who kills} a domestic animal must repay [for] it life in place of life.

I {in turn} will do this to you: then I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed {in vain}, and your enemies shall eat it.

The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life until this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" He said, "No."

Who can count the dust of Jacob, or [as] a number the fourth part of Israel? Let my life die the death of an upright person, and let my end be like his!"

but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand.

and the life of humankind, from the women who did not {have sexual intercourse with a man}, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.

Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who [is] guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death.

"However, {take care} for yourself and watch your inner self closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to {your grandchildren}.

so that you may revere Yahweh your God by keeping all his statutes and his commandments that I [am] commanding you, you and your children and {grandchildren}, all the days of your life and so you may live long [lives].

Only, be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.

You shall not eat {with it} anything leavened; seven days you shall eat {with it} unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,

{You must show no pity}: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

"A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not go {down}, because [he is] poor and {his life depends on it}; [do this] so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, {and you incur guilt}.

And {your life shall hang in doubt before you}, and you shall be startled night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life.

"See, I am setting {before you} {today} life and prosperity and death and disaster;

I invoke as a witness against you {today} the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set {before you}, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,

by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he [is] your life and the length of your days [in order for you] to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."

See, now, that I, [even] I [am] he, and there is not a god besides me; I put to death and I give life; I wound and I heal; there is not [one] who delivers from my hand!

for it [is] not a trifling matter among you, but it [is] your life, and through this word {you will live long in the land} that you [are about] to cross the Jordan [to get] there to take possession of it."

No one will stand before you all the days of your life. [Just] as I was with Moses, [so] will I be with you; I will not fail you, and I will not forsake you.

On that day Yahweh exalted Joshua {in the sight} of all Israel, and they respected him as they respected Moses all the days of his life.

Take utmost care for [the sake of] your life to love Yahweh your God,

for my father fought and {risked his life} for you and delivered you from the hand of Midian;

I saw that you would not deliver [us]; {I risked my own life}, and I crossed [over] to the {Ammonites}, and Yahweh gave them into my hand. Why have you come up to me this day to fight against me?"

And Manoah said to him, "Now {when your words come true}, what will be the boy's {manner of life} and work?"

And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." And he pushed with [all his] strength, and the house fell on the rulers and all of the people who [were] with him. And the dead whom he killed in his death were more than those he killed in his life.

And the descendants of Dan said to him, "You should not let your voice be heard among us, so that {ill-tempered men} {will not attack you}, {and take your life} and the lives of your household."

He shall be for you a restorer of life and a sustainer in your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who [is] better for you than seven sons, has borne him."

She {made a vow} and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant {a male child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

He put his life in his hand and attacked the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all of Israel, and you saw [it] and rejoiced! Now why should you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?"

Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!"

Stay with me! Do not fear, because he who seeks my life seeks your life. You are in good care with me."

When David realized that Saul had gone out to seek his life, David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

Now, my father, see, yes, see, the hem of your robe in my hand! For {when I cut} the hem of your robe I did not kill you. Know and {realize} that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand. I did not sin against you, but you [are] hunting down my life to take it.

Then you must say to him, '[Long] life [to you], and {may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours}.

Should a man arise to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be wrapped in the pouch of the living with Yahweh your God. But as for the life of your enemy, he will sling it from within the pocket of the sling!

Then Saul said, "I have sinned! Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life [was] precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted like a fool and {have made a terrible mistake}."

Look, as your life was precious in my eyes this day, may my life be great in the eyes of Yahweh, and may he rescue me from all trouble."

David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life."

But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?"

Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me.

He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me, for convulsions have seized me, even though my life [is still] in me.'

They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron, and they said to the king, "Here [is] the head of Ish-Bosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life. Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and on his offspring."

Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing."

And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth."

For {we must certainly die}, and [we are] as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him.

But Ittai answered the king and said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {my lord the king lives}, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be."

David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Look, my son who came out of my loins [is] seeking my life. Now {as far as} [this] Benjaminite, leave him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has spoken to him.

If I had dealt treacherously against his life, and [there is] not any matter hidden from the king, {you would have presented yourself aloof}."

Then Joab came to the king's house and said, "Today you have humiliated the faces of all of your servants who have saved your life this day, and the life of your sons and your daughters, the life of your wives, and the life of your concubines,

Then Barzillai said to the king, "What [are] the days of the years of my life, that I should go with the king to Jerusalem?

So then, come, let me advise you please, {that you may save} your life and the life of your son, Solomon.

Then the king swore and said, "{As Yahweh lives}, who has saved my life from all trouble,

Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn't spoken this thing at the expense of his life.

And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself {a long life} and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself {the ability to make wise judgments};