Word study
Captive
8 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: captives, captive. 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 “captive” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁבָה shâbâhtake captivetranslated this way 19 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H7617Verb · Translated: captives 6, captors 6, captured 5, taken captive 5Full study and all 41 verses →
Genesis 31:26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
Numbers 24:22 Yet Kain will be destroyed when Asshur takes you captive.”
- שְׁבִי shebîcaptivity, captivestranslated this way 12 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H7628Noun · Translated: captivity 21, captives 8, exile 5, captive 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Numbers 31:12 They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Deuteronomy 21:10 When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,
- שִׁבְיָה shibyâhcaptivity, captivestranslated this way 6 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H7633Noun · Translated: captives 6, among 1, captivity 1, gone into captivity 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”
2 Chronicles 28:5 So the LORD his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.
- שְׁבוּת shebûthexile, prisoners, former state of prosperitytranslated this way 5 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H7622Noun · Translated: captivity 20, captives 3, captive 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Psalm 14:7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!
Zephaniah 2:7 The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; there they will find pasture. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the LORD their God will attend to them and restore their captives.
- גָּלָה gâlâhuncover, removetranslated this way 3 times of its 170 uses · Strong’s H1540Verb · Translated: revealed 14, uncovered 13, exiled 12, sexual relations 11Full study and all 161 verses →
2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
- אָסִיר âsîrbondman, prisonertranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H615Noun · Translated: prisoners 6, captives 2, captive people 1, prisoner's 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Job 3:18 The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
Psalm 69:33 For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
- אַסִּיר assîrprisonerstranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H616Noun · Translated: captives 2, captive 1, like prisoners 1, prisoners 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Chronicles 3:17 The descendants of Jeconiah the captive: Shealtiel his son,
Psalm 79:11 May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
- גּוֹלָה gôlâhexiles, exiletranslated this way 2 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H1473Noun · Translated: exile 17, exiles 17, captives 1, taken captive 1Full study and all 36 verses →
2 Kings 24:14 He carried into exile all Jerusalem — all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths — ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.
Esther 2:6 He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.
Greek words (New Testament)
- αἰχμαλωτίζω aichmalōtízōI take captive, subdue, ensnaretranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G163Verb · Translated: led captive 1, holding me captive 1, take captive 1, captivate 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Romans 7:23 But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
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 captive: 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.