Word study
Arrest
1 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: arrest, arrested. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “arrest” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אָסַר âsartie, bind, imprisontranslated this way 2 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s H631Verb · Translated: bound 16, tied 5, prisoners 4, confined 3Full study and all 62 verses →
Judges 15:10 “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
Judges 15:12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- κρατέω kratéōI lay hold of, obtaintranslated this way 13 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s G2902Verb · Translated: arrest 8, arrested 5, took 4, seized 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Matthew 14:3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
Mark 6:17 For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married.
- συλλαμβάνω syllambánōI seize, apprehend, become pregnanttranslated this way 4 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G4815Verb · Translated: conceived 3, seized 3, arrest 2, help 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Matthew 26:55 At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me.
Mark 14:48 Jesus asked the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw?
- πιάζω piázōI lay hold oftranslated this way 4 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G4084Verb · Translated: seize 3, arrest 2, caught 2Full study and all 12 verses →
John 7:32 When the Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about Jesus, they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Him.
Acts 12:4 He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
- παραδίδωμι paradídōmiI hand over, deliver, betraytranslated this way 2 times of its 119 uses · Strong’s G3860Verb · Translated: betray 19, handed 19, delivered 10, hand 9Full study and all 117 verses →
Mark 1:14 After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”
- ἐπιβάλλω epibállōI throw upon, lay, strike upontranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G1911Verb · Translated: seized 4, sews 2, laid 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Luke 20:19 When the scribes and chief priests realized that Jesus had spoken this parable against them, they sought to arrest Him that very hour. But they were afraid of the people.
Acts 5:18 and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about arrest: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.