Psalm 22:20:3Ps.22.20.W3TABWLC Psalms 22:21
נַפְשִׁ֑י
nafshi
“my life”
- Transliteration
- naf-SHI
- Extended
- nahf-SHEE
- IPA
- /nafˈʃiː/
Meaning by language
- English
- my life
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Nun | n as in new | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Pe | p with dagesh; f without | |
| Sheva | silent sheva — no sound; closes the syllable | |
| Shin | shin with right dot; sin with left dot | |
| Hireq | 'ee' as in machine | |
| Yod | y as in yes; marks long ī |
Tap any letter to hear its name and sound
Now you try — trace the word:
The word
Word in context
- word
naf-SHI
- clause
ha-TSI-LA me-KHE-rev naf-SHI
- sentence
ha-TSI-LA me-KHE-rev naf-SHI mi-YAD-KE-lev ye-khi-da-TI
Exegesis
It features two parallel objects, nap̄šî {נַפְשִׁי | nap̄-šî} ‘my soul’ and yəḥîḏātî {יְחִידָתִי | yə-ḥî-ḏā-ṯî} ‘my only one,’ each governed by prepositional phrases: mēḥereḇ {מֵחֶרֶב | mê-ḥe-reḇ} ‘from sword’ and mîyad-kelev {מִיַּד-כֶּלֶב | mî-yaḏ-ke-leḇ} ‘from the hand of a dog.’ This chiastic pairing (soul–only one; sword–dog) heightens the sense of mortal peril. The fronted imperative underscores urgency, and the semicolon in English mirrors the Hebrew caesura, preserving the poetic balance.
Root and etymology
Rootnun–pe–shin
“breath, life”
In context — Psalm 22:20
Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog.
About this coordinate
Psalm 22:20:3 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 3 of Psalm 22:20, so the Hebrew word נַפְשִׁ֑י (nafshi) 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 Ps.22.20.W3, which extends further down to each syllable (Ps.22.20.W3.S1) and character.