Air [ruaḥ]1 is an equivocal term. It is a term denoting air; I mean the element that is one of [46b] the four elements. Thus: And the air of God hovered.2 It is also a term denoting the blowing wind. Thus: And the east air3 brought the locusts;4 West air.5 This use of the term is frequent. It is also a term denoting the animal spirit. Thus: An air6 that passeth away and cometh not again;7 Wherein is the air8 of life.9 It is also a term denoting the thing that remains of man after his death and that does not undergo passing-away.10 Thus: And the air11 shall return unto God who gave it.12 It is also a term denoting the divine intellectual overflow that overflows to the prophets and in virtue of which they prophesy, as we shall explain to you when speaking of prophecy, in the way in which it is proper to mention it in this Treatise. Thus: And I will take of the air13 which is upon thee, and I will put it upon them;14 And it came to pass that when the air rested upon them;15 The air16 of the Lord spoke by me.17 This use of the word is frequent. It is also a term denoting purpose and will. Thus: A fool uttereth all his air,18 his purpose and will. Similarly in the verse: And the air of Egypt shall be made empty within it, and I will make void the counsel thereof;19 it says that [Egypt’s] purposes will be divided and its governance will be hidden. Similarly also in the verse: Who hath comprehended the air of the Lord, or who is familiar with His counsel that he may tell us?20 Scripture says that he who knows the ordering of His will or apprehends His governance of that which exists as it really is, should teach us about it—as we shall explain in the chapters that will deal with His governance.21 In all cases in which the term air is applied to God, it is used in the fifth sense; in some of them also in the last sense, which is that of will, as we have explained. Thus the term should be interpreted in every passage according to what is indicated in the context.22