breath of a man is his spirit, and this is of God, the Father of spirits; he first breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul or spirit, Gen 2:7 ; it is he that gives life and breath to every man, Act 17:25 , and continues it as long as he pleases, which is a very precarious thing; for it is in his nostrils, where it is drawn to and fro and soon and easily stopped; nor will it always continue, it will some time not be, it will go forth, and then man dies, and returns to the earth, Ecc 12:7 ; but as long as there is breath there is life; so that to say this is the same as to say, as long as I live, or have a being, Psa 104:33 ; and while that continued, Job looked upon himself under the oath he had taken by the living God.