Translations
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
YHWH will guard you from all evil; He will guard your whole-being.
Yahweh will keep you from every evil; He will guard your whole-being.
The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul.
Footnotes
Nephesh is one of the most semantically dense words in Biblical Hebrew. Etymologically rooted in the throat or gullet—the seat of breath, appetite, and creaturely desire—it extends to mean the whole animate self, the living being in its entirety. It is not the immaterial, Platonic "soul" of Greek philosophy, but the embodied, breathing, wanting person. Both F.O.G. versions renders it "whole-being" to preserve this embodied, creaturely quality. The repetition of yishmor ("will guard") in this verse mirrors the psalm's keynote shomer and builds the protection-theme to its fullest intensity.

