Proverbs 19:15:4Prov.19.15.W4TAB
וְנֶ֖פֶשׁ
venefesh
“and a soul or a person”
- Transliteration
- ve-NE-fesh
- Extended
- veh-NEH-fehsh
- IPA
- /vənɛˈfɛʃ/
Meaning by language
- English
- and a soul or a person
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Vav | v as in vine; marks long ō / ū | |
| Sheva | vocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable | |
| Nun | n as in new | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Pe | p with dagesh; f without | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Shin | shin with right dot; sin with left dot |
Tap any letter to hear its name and sound
Now you try — trace the word:
The word
Word in context
- word
ve-NE-fesh
- clause
ve-NE-fesh re-MI-ya tir-AV
- sentence
A-tsa-la ta-PIL tar-de-MA ve-NE-fesh re-MI-ya tir-AV
Exegesis
The second clause begins with the conjunction wə {וְ | wə} linking to the noun nəp̄eš {נֶפֶשׁ | nəp̄eš} ‘soul’, modified by the adjective rəmiyyāh {רְמִיָּה | rəmiyyāh} ‘slack’, and followed by the Qal imperfect tirʿāv {תִרְעָב | tirʿāv} ‘will hunger’. Both verbal predicates appear in the third person feminine singular, reinforcing poetic symmetry. The Hebrew placement of the verb before its object in the first clause heightens the causative effect. In translation, “will bring on” and “will end up hungry” preserve the future orientation and causal relationship, while “and” maintains the connective parallelism found in the Hebrew.
Root and etymology
n-p-šnun–pe–shin
“breath, life, self”
In context — Proverbs 19:15
Laziness will bring on a deep sleep , and an idle soul will go hungry.
About this coordinate
Proverbs 19:15:4 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 4 of Proverbs 19:15, so the Hebrew word וְנֶ֖פֶשׁ (venefesh) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Prov.19.15.W4, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.19.15.W4.S1) and character.