Word study
Imprison
7 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: imprisoned, imprison, imprisons. 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 “imprison” 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)
- כָּלָא kâlâshut up, restrain, withholdtranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3607Verb · Translated: restrained 3, withhold 2, kept 2, imprisoned 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Jeremiah 32:2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.
Jeremiah 32:3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the LORD says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
- סָגַר sâgarshut, closetranslated this way 2 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s H5462Verb · Translated: shut 23, closed 9, isolate 8, delivered 8Full study and all 87 verses →
Job 11:10 If He comes along to imprison you, or convenes a court, who can stop Him?
Job 12:14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 1 time of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Genesis 40:3 and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined.
- אָסַף âsaphgather, removetranslated this way 1 time of its 193 uses · Strong’s H622Verb · Translated: gathered 56, gather 27, assembled 13, assemble 8Full study and all 183 verses →
Genesis 42:17 So Joseph imprisoned them for three days,
- אָסַר âsartie, bind, imprisontranslated this way 1 time of its 66 uses · Strong’s H631Verb · Translated: bound 16, tied 5, prisoners 4, confined 3Full study and all 62 verses →
2 Kings 23:33 And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
- חָבָא châbâwithdraw, hidetranslated this way 1 time of its 33 uses · Strong’s H2244Verb · Translated: hid 10, hidden 8, hiding 6, hide 3Full study and all 33 verses →
Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”
- חָבַשׁ châbashbind, bind on, bind uptranslated this way 1 time of its 32 uses · Strong’s H2280Verb · Translated: saddled 11, binds 3, Saddle 2, bind 2Full study and all 30 verses →
Job 40:13 Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βάλλω bállōI cast, throw, rush, put, place, droptranslated this way 2 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s G906Verb · Translated: thrown 26, put 16, throw 11, cast 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Luke 23:19 (Barabbas had been imprisoned for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Luke 23:25 As they had requested, he released the one imprisoned for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over to their will.
- παραδίδωμι paradídōmiI hand over, deliver, betraytranslated this way 1 time of its 119 uses · Strong’s G3860Verb · Translated: betray 19, handed 19, delivered 10, hand 9Full study and all 117 verses →
Matthew 4:12 When Jesus heard that John had been imprisoned, He withdrew to Galilee.
- φυλακή phylakḗa watching, guard, prison, imprisonmenttranslated this way 1 time of its 43 uses · Strong’s G5438Noun · Translated: prison 27, watch 3, jail 3, watch of the night 2Full study and all 43 verses →
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.
- δέω déōI bindtranslated this way 1 time of its 43 uses · Strong’s G1210Verb · Translated: bound 18, tied 4, bind 3, tie 2Full study and all 40 verses →
Mark 15:7 And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection.
- φυλακίζω phylakízōI imprisontranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5439Verb · Translated: imprisoned 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 22:19 ‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You.
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.