This paper explores biblical metaphors as target text features, being the outcome of processes of translation. This is discussed from the point of view of how the Biblical Hebrew term npš has been rendered in a select number of translations of Ezekiel. The history of exegetical scholarship is discussed as the single most important explanation for why the rendering of this term has changed dramatically over time in the translations under scrutiny. It is argued that a new paradigm emerging in the first half of the 20th century held that Israelite anthropology was monistic, with the effect that the traditional rendering of npš as ”soul” became untenable. Instead, a number of new meanings were put forward, which held that npš referred not to an entity that could be differentiated from the human person or body, but rather to the person or body as such, but also to attributes, feelings, and functions associated with it. This is discussed with metaphorisation as an analytical term, since in the new paradigm, the meaning of npš was substantially extended or expanded, thereby transferring it from a concrete term to an abstract concept. This conception is only possible to find if one look at translations of the Bible (which present the biblical texts to the general public) but also at exegetical scholarship, which indeed “translates” the biblical source texts by discussing and framing certain aspects of the source texts in certain ways. All in all, with npš as an example, the paper shows how translations of the Bible play an essential part in creating biblical metaphors and metaphorical language.