Word study
Prisoner
4 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: prisoners, prisoner. 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 “prisoner” 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)
- אָסִיר âsîrbondman, prisonertranslated this way 7 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H615Noun · Translated: prisoners 6, captives 2, captive people 1, prisoner's 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Genesis 39:22 And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison.
Psalm 68:6 God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
- אָסַר âsartie, bind, imprisontranslated this way 4 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s H631Verb · Translated: bound 16, tied 5, prisoners 4, confined 3Full study and all 62 verses →
Genesis 39:20 So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,
Psalm 146:7 He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
- שְׁבִי shebîcaptivity, captivestranslated this way 3 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H7628Noun · Translated: captivity 21, captives 8, exile 5, captive 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Exodus 12:29 Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.
Numbers 21:1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.
- אַסִּיר assîrprisonerstranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H616Noun · Translated: captives 2, captive 1, like prisoners 1, prisoners 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Isaiah 24:22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.
Isaiah 42:7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δέσμιος désmiosone bound, a prisonertranslated this way 13 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G1198Noun · Translated: prisoner 10, prison 3, prisoners 2, taken prisoner 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Matthew 27:15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the feast to release to the crowd a prisoner of their choosing.
Mark 15:6 Now it was Pilate’s custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing.
- συναιχμάλωτος synaichmálōtosa fellow captivetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4869Noun · Translated: fellow prisoner 2, fellow prisoners 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Romans 16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
Colossians 4:10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him.
- δέω déōI bindtranslated this way 2 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s G1210Verb · Translated: bound 18, tied 4, bind 3, tie 2Full study and all 40 verses →
Acts 9:2 and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Acts 9:21 All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
- δεσμώτης desmṓtēsa prisoner, captivetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1202Noun · Translated: prisoners 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.
Acts 27:42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim to freedom.
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.