Prison, Prisoner

PRISON, PRISONER. A place of confinement or restraint, often as a means of punishment. A person so confined. A. Descriptive words. A variety of terms are used in the OT and several in the NT to describe incarceration. These are variously tr. in the major VSS. The following list includes most of the occurrences of significance: 1. אֲזִקִּים, H272, זִקִּ֑ים, “chains,” “fetters” (Ps 149:8; Jer 40:1, 4; Nah 3:10). 5. חָנוּת, H2844, “vaulted room” cell (Jer 37:16; KJV “cabin”). 6. כֶּ֫בֶל, H3890, “fetter” (Pss 105:18; 149:8). 8. מַהְפֶּ֫כֶת, H4551, “stocks” (2 Chron 16:10; Jer 20:2f.; 29:26). 11. פְּקֻדָּה, H7213, “guardhouse,” “prison” (Jer 52:11). 12. עֹ֫צֶר, H6808, “restraint,” “coercion,” understood in KJV as “prison” (Isa 53:8). 14. סוּגַר, H6050, “prison,” “cage” (KJV “ward”) (Ezek 19:9); and מַסְגֵּר֒, H4993, “dungeon,” “prison” (Isa 24:22). 15. שָׁבָה, H8647, “take captive,” and its derivatives may imply, but not explicitly indicate imprisonment (e.g., Num 21