φυλακή
phylakḗ · G5438 · Greek · 47 occurrences
Thing
- Prison, dungeonPrison and penal activity108 verses
Meanings
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jail, prison
A place of detention
ExamplesMatthew 5:25 “Come to good terms with your accuser quickly, while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will not be thrown into prison.
Matthew 14:3 For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
Matthew 14:10 He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison.
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guard post, guard station
(Derivative of φυλάσσω ‘to guard closely,’) A place or post for guarding
ExamplesActs 12:10 Now when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
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watch, a fourth of the night
One of four periods of time into which the night was divided (during which time certain assigned persons would be on the lookout)
ExamplesMatthew 14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.
Matthew 24:43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Mark 6:48 Seeing them straining at the oars—for the wind was against them—at about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them.
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haunt, lair, dwelling place
A place for wild animals and evil spirits to dwell
ExamplesRevelation 18:2 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.
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to guard against, to keep under watch, to watch over
To be on one’s guard against some eventuality
ExamplesLuke 2:8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night.
How it’s used In 7 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
7 occurrences in 5 groups
- νύξnight 3
- θηρίονbeast, wild animal 1
- ὄρνεονbird 1
- πνεῦμαspirit 1
- αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
6 occurrences in 6 groups
- τέταρτοςfourth 2
- δεύτεροςsecond 1
- ἐσώτεροςinner 1
- ποῖοςwhat, which 1
- πρῶτοςfirst 1
- τρίτοςthird 1
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἀπειθέωto disobey 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- τηρέωto keep, to obey, to guard 1
- φυλάσσωto keep, to guard 1
It is given or told toIndirect object
1 occurrences in 2 groups
- κηρύσσωto preach, to proclaim 1
- πορεύομαιto go, to travel 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
36 occurrences in 5 groups
- ἐνin 30
- εἰςto 29
- ἐκfrom 4
- περίconcerning, about, for 2
- ἀπόfrom 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- θύραdoor 2
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 1 word
- δεσμωτήριον desmōtḗrion · G1201 · jail, prison
- Both terms denote a place of confinement. δεσμωτήριον represents a specific type of confinement facility — a dungeon — while the target covers both that specific sense and broader related senses such as guarding or a watch period. This is a typical case of a broader polysemous term overlapping with a narrower, more specific one within the shared sense of imprisonment.
In the other Testament 5 words
- מִשְׁמֶרֶת mishmereth · H4931 · to keep, to guard, watch
- Greek φυλακή and Hebrew מִשְׁמֶרֶת both denote guarding/watching and the institutions thereof (guard duty, watch period, guardhouse/prison), with φυλακή more frequently specializing to 'prison' in NT usage while מִשְׁמֶרֶת in OT usage emphasizes cultic/temple guard obligations and ordinances to be kept.
- מַטָּרָא maṭṭârâʼ · H4307 · courtyard of the guard
- Aramaic cognate for 'prison/guard' that overlaps with Greek φυλακή in contexts denoting confinement or custodial watch.
- מִשְׁמָר mishmâr · H4929 · custody, watch, guard
- Greek φυλακή and Hebrew מִשְׁמָר both denote the semantic domain of guarding/watching, encompassing the act of custody, the guard person(s), the place of confinement (prison), and the watch period — direct cross-linguistic equivalents for guard/custody contexts.
- כֶּלֶא keleʼ · H3608 · prison
- φυλακή (phylakḗ, G5438) serves as the standard Greek rendering of כֶּלֶא (keleʼ, H3608) in LXX contexts denoting literal imprisonment or the place of confinement, both terms sharing the concrete semantic domain of 'prison' as a physical location for detention.
- אַשְׁמֻרָה ʼashmurâh · H821 · watch (of the night)
- אַשְׁמֻרָה (ʼashmurâh, H821) specifically denotes a watch as a division of the night (one of three or four periods), while φυλακή (phylakḗ, G5438) has broader semantic scope encompassing guarding as an act, guards as persons, prison as a place, and watch as a time division—the two overlap precisely in the temporal division sense where אַשְׁמֻרָה (ʼashmurâh, H821)'s core meaning resides.
Semantic domains 5 entries
- To guard against, to keep under watch, to watch over37.119
- Matthew 14:25 says “in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea”.
- Guard post, guard station37.123
- Acts 12:10 recounts that Peter and the angel “passed the first and second guard”, and came to the iron gate.
- Watch, a fourth of the night67.196
- Luke 12:38 says, “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.”
- Jail, prison7.24
- Acts 16:23 recounts that after they had been severely beaten, “they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely”.
- Haunt, lair, dwelling place85.85
- Revelation 18:2 cries out that Babylon “has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit”.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Also from the root φυλάσσω
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon φυλακῆς, ἡ (φυλάσσω), from Homer down, the Sept. for מִשְׁמֶרֶת, מִשְׁמָר, מַטָּרָה (a…
a. in an active sense, a watching, keeping watch: φυλάσσειν φυλακάς, to keep watch, Lk 2:8 (often in the Greek writings from Xenophon, an. 2, 6, 10, etc.; Plato legg. 6, p. 758 d. down; (cf. φυλακάς ἔχειν, etc. from Homer (Iliad 9, 1 etc.) on); often also in the Sept. for מִשְׁמָרות שָׁמַר).
b. like the Latincustodia and more frequently the pluralcustodiae (see Klotz, Hdwrbch. (or Harpers' Latin Dict.) under the word), equivalent to persons keeping watch, a guard, sentinels: Acts 12:10 (here A. V. ward) (and very often in secular authors from Homer down).
c. of the place where captives are kept, a prison: Mt 14:10; Mt 25:36,(39),43f; Mk 6:17, Mk 6:27(28); Lk 3:20; Lk 21:12; Lk 22:33; Acts 5:19, Acts 5:22; Acts 8:3; Acts 12:5f, 17; Acts 16:27, Acts 16:40; Acts 22:4; Acts 26:10; 2 Cor 6:5 (here, as in Heb 11:36, A. V. imprisonment); 2 Cor 11:23; 1 Pet 3:19; Rev 18:2 (twice; rendered in A. V. hold and cage (R. V. hold)); (Herodotus 3, 152; Thucydides 3, 34; Plutarch, others; the Sept. for מַטָּרָה, כֶּלֶא בֵּית, and הַכֶּלֶא בֵּית, מִשְׁמָר); βάλλειν or τιθέναι τινα εἰς (τήν) φυλακήν or ἐν (τῇ) φυλακή: Mt 5:25; Mt 14:3 (R G, others, ἀπέθετο); ; Lk 12:58; Lk 23:19, Lk 23:25; Jn 3:24; Acts 5:25; Acts 8:3 (here παραδιδόναι εἰς φυλακήν); Acts 12:4; Acts 16:23f,37>; Rev 2:10.
d. of the time (of night) during which guard was kept, a watch i. e. the period of time during which a part of the guard were on duty, and at the end of which others relieved them. As the earlier Greeks divided the night commonly into three parts (see Liddell and Scott, under the word I. 4), so, previously to the exile, the Israelites also had three watches in a night; subsequently, however, after they became subject to Rome, they adopted the Roman custom of dividing the night into four watches: Mt 24:43; ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ, τρίτῃ, Lk 12:38; τετάρτῃ, Mt 14:25; Mk 6:48. Cf. Winer's RWB under the word Nachtwache; (McClintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia, under the word ; B. D. under the phrase, ).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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