Aramaic word · H613

אֱסוּר

uve'esur

bond

Bond, fetter, chain. From the root ʾsr, 'to bind, tie, imprison'. The plural ʾĕsûrîn means 'imprisonment' (Ezra 7:26).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. · Updated October 21, 2026

What it means

band, bond, imprisonment

Aramaic of e.sur (אֵסוּר "bond" H0612)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Bond, fetter, chain. From the root ʾsr, 'to bind, tie, imprison'. The plural ʾĕsûrîn means 'imprisonment' (Ezra 7:26).
Against the English: KJV's 'band' meant 'bond' in 1611 English (as in 'the bands of death'). Modern readers hear a ring or strip of metal around the stump. NIV and ESV add 'bound', which keeps the sense of restraint.
How it drifted: In older English 'band' and 'bond' were the same word. Modern 'band' has lost the sense of a shackle.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezra 7:26 (punishment by 'imprisonment'). The Hebrew root ʾāsar is used for binding prisoners (Judg 16:5–12; 2 Kgs 25:7, where Zedekiah is bound in bronze fetters by Nebuchadnezzar).

Range of meaning: 'Bond, fetter', and by extension 'imprisonment'. Ezra 7:26 lists ʾĕsûrîn as a legal penalty. From the root ʾsr, 'to bind'.
Against the English: English versions say 'band', which suits a stump. BSB adds 'around it' to make that picture explicit, a word the Aramaic does not have. The Aramaic word more usually means fetters on a person.
How it drifted: Not so much drift as smoothing: 'band' leans the image toward the tree, while the word's normal use leans toward the human prisoner.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezra 7:26 (Aramaic) uses it for imprisonment. The Hebrew cognate ʾēsûr means fetters (Judges 15:14; Jeremiah 37:15 uses the related idea 'house of bonds', prison). No clear ancient parallel has been produced for metal hoops put round tree stumps.

Ezra · 1

Ezra 7:26 וְלֶאֱסוּרִֽין׃ פ and to imprisonment<s>

If anyone does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, let a strict judgment be executed against him, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.

Daniel · 2

Daniel 4:15 וּבֶֽאֱסוּר֙ and with a fetter

But leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.

Here: 'And in a bond.' The word is used for fetters and imprisonment (Ezra 7:26 has its plural for 'imprisonment'). It suggests binding or restraint more than a decorative ring.
Daniel 4:23 וּבֶאֱסוּר֙ and with a fetter

And you, O king, saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying: ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass him by.’

Here: 'And with a bond'. Elsewhere in Aramaic the word means fetters or imprisonment (Ezra 7:26). It is unclear whether it pictures a metal band around the stump or chains on the man the stump stands for.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.