Proverbs 20:27

27. The spirit נשׁמה , ( neshamah,) construct נשׁמת , ( nishmath,) Genesis 2:7; not רוח , ( rua’hh,) spirit, a word with which it is sometimes coupled, kindred to which is the word nephesh, the breath, inspiration, or inbreathing of the Almighty, which giveth understanding. (Job 32:8.)

Inward parts of the belly Put by synecdoche for “the inner man.” Comp. Proverbs 20:30; Proverbs 18:8; 1 Corinthians 2:10. “Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him;” that is, a man is conscious of the schemes, plans, and purposes of his own mind; and no man can know these but himself, unless he reveals them. Man’s intelligent consciousness that by which he cognises the operations of his own mind and his moral consciousness conscience by which he discerns his moral status and the moral quality of his thoughts, emotions, passions, and the actions that proceed from them this intelligent self-consciousness, implying a rational and moral nature, is the gift of Jehovah the lamp or light of Jehovah within him, distinguishing him from all other beings in this world. Compare Romans 1:19-20; Matthew 6:22-23; John 1:4; John 1:9.