Word study
Jailer
2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: jailer, jailers. 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 “jailer” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Greek words (New Testament)
- δεσμοφύλαξ desmophýlaxa keeper of a prison, a jailertranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1200Noun · Translated: jailer 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 16:23 And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely.
Acts 16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped.
- βασανιστής basanistḗsone who tortures, a tormentor, jailortranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G930Noun · Translated: jailers to be tortured 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 18:34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.
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. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). 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.