αἰχμαλωτεύω

From the study of Ephesians 4:8

Range of meaning

αἰχμαλωτεύω means to capture in war or take prisoner. αἰχμαλωσία can mean (1) the state of captivity, often the exile in the Greek Old Testament, or (2) by a common shift from abstract to concrete, the captives themselves as a group (BDAG s.v. αἰχμαλωσία 2). The pairing 'captured a captivity' copies a Hebrew way of putting verb and object from the same root: shāḇîtā shĕḇî, 'you took captives'.

Against the English

The KJV's 'led captivity captive' is a word-for-word copy of the Hebrew and Greek, but in English it sounds like a riddle: 'captivity itself' was taken prisoner. Read that way, it suggests the power of captivity was defeated and its prisoners set free. BSB ('led captives away'), ESV and NASB ('a host of captives'), and NIV ('took many captives') bring out the actual image of prisoners of war led in a procession.

How it drifted

The KJV phrase took on a life of its own in hymns and preaching, where 'captivity' became a personified enemy (sin, death, Hades) that Christ 'captured' so as to free its prisoners. The Greek collective noun and its Hebrew model point to the defeated foes themselves as the captives.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same Hebrew pairing appears in Judges 5:12, Deborah's song: 'Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives (šăḇēh šeḇyĕkā)'. There the captives are clearly the defeated Canaanites. Numbers 21:1, Deuteronomy 21:10 and 2 Chronicles 28:5, 11 use the same root for prisoners of war. In Psalm 68 itself, the next words mention 'even the rebellious' (68:18), and the psalm is full of scattered enemies (68:1–2, 21–23, 30). The Greek Old Testament (Ps 67:19) has exactly ᾐχμαλώτευσας αἰχμαλωσίαν.