Word study
Bound
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bound, bounding. 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 “bound” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אָסַר âsartie, bind, imprisontranslated this way 17 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s H631Verb · Translated: bound 16, tied 5, prisoners 4, confined 3Full study and all 62 verses →
Genesis 42:24 And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.
Numbers 30:4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.
- צָרַר tsârarbind, tie up, be restricted, narrow, scant, crampedtranslated this way 3 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H6887Verb · Translated: distress 5, foes 4, enemy 4, enemies 4Full study and all 52 verses →
1 Samuel 25:29 And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
Proverbs 30:4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son— surely you know!
- בַּעַל baalowner, lordtranslated this way 2 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H1167Noun · Translated: owner 15, leaders 15, husband 6, bound 2Full study and all 72 verses →
Genesis 14:13 Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram.
Nehemiah 6:18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
- חָבַשׁ châbashbind, bind on, bind uptranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H2280Verb · Translated: saddled 11, binds 3, Saddle 2, bind 2Full study and all 30 verses →
Ezekiel 30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up for healing, or splinted for strength to hold the sword.
Ezekiel 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
- כְּפַת kephathbindtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3729Verb · Translated: firmly bound 2, tie 1, tied 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Daniel 3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, firmly bound, fell into the blazing fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:24 Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied.
- רָקַד râqadskip abouttranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H7540Verb · Translated: skip 2, skipped 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Joel 2:5 With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.
Nahum 3:2 The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!
Greek words (New Testament)
- δέω déōI bindtranslated this way 19 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s G1210Verb · Translated: bound 18, tied 4, bind 3, tie 2Full study and all 40 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 5:4 Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him.
- ἀναθεματίζω anathematízōI curse, invoke cursestranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G332Verb · Translated: bound themselves with an oath 2, curse 1, bound 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 23:12 When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Acts 23:14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.
- ὀφείλω opheílōI owe, oughttranslated this way 2 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G3784Verb · Translated: ought 9, should 4, owed 3, owe 3Full study and all 34 verses →
Matthew 23:16 Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
Matthew 23:18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’
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.
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.