Hebrew word · H615

אָסִיר

'asir

prisoner

Prisoner, captive, someone bound. It comes from ʾāsar, 'to tie, bind, harness, imprison.' It is used for royal detainees (Joseph, Genesis 39:20), war captives (Isaiah 14:17), forced laborers (Job 3:18), and in poetry for people trapped by affliction (Psalm 107:10).

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

prisoner, captive, bondman

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

In depth

From the study of Psalm 69:33

Range of meaning: Prisoner, captive, someone bound. It comes from ʾāsar, 'to tie, bind, harness, imprison.' It is used for royal detainees (Joseph, Genesis 39:20), war captives (Isaiah 14:17), forced laborers (Job 3:18), and in poetry for people trapped by affliction (Psalm 107:10).
Against the English: KJV 'prisoners' sounds to a modern reader like convicted criminals in a penal system. BSB/WEB 'captive people' and YLT 'bound ones' are closer: the picture is of people held captive, not of offenders serving sentences.
How it drifted: Locking someone up as a sentence for crime was not a standard punishment in Israelite law. Confinement mostly meant war captivity, debt bondage, political detention or deportation. The modern prison system gives the English word a meaning ('inmate, convict') the Hebrew did not have.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalm 68:6 ('he leads out prisoners to prosperity'); Psalm 79:11 and 102:20 ('the groaning of the prisoner'), both set among national disaster; Isaiah 42:7; Zechariah 9:11–12 ('prisoners of hope'); Lamentations 3:34. The Septuagint renders it pepedēmenoi, 'those in fetters'.

From the study of Psalm 102:20

Range of meaning: "Bound one": a prisoner or captive. The word is used of Joseph and the king's prisoners in Egypt (Genesis 39:20, 22), of people Babylon kept as captives and would not let go home (Isaiah 14:17), of "all the prisoners of the earth" crushed underfoot (Lamentations 3:34), of the prisoners released in the Servant's mission (Isaiah 42:7), and of the exiles God frees from the waterless pit, the "prisoners of hope" (Zechariah 9:11–12). It covers war captives, people detained by the powerful, debt-prisoners and deported populations.
Against the English: English "prisoner" now suggests a criminal serving a court sentence in a penitentiary. Ancient Israelite law did not use imprisonment as a sentence. Detention pits and guardhouses held people awaiting judgment, political prisoners and debtors, while conquerors held captives and deportees. The ʾasir of the Psalms is usually a victim, not an offender.
How it drifted: The modern prison system, in which incarceration is itself the punishment, gives "prisoner" an overtone of guilt that the Hebrew word usually lacks.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 14:17, 42:7; Zechariah 9:11–12; Lamentations 3:34; Psalm 68:6, "he leads out the prisoners into prosperity," which uses the related plural ʾasirim; Psalm 69:33, "he does not despise his prisoners" (ʾasiraw); Psalm 146:7, "the LORD sets the prisoners free" (ʾasurim). The Septuagint here has pepedēmenōn, "those in fetters."

From the study of Zechariah 9:11

Range of meaning: 'One who is bound', from 'āsar, 'to bind, tie, imprison'. It is used for prisoners in a royal jail (Gen 39:20, 22, Joseph), captives of war (Isa 14:17), and the oppressed whom God frees (Ps 68:6; 69:33; 107:10; 146:7). The word says the person is held. It does not say whether they are guilty.
Against the English: Modern 'prisoner' suggests a convicted criminal serving a sentence. The Hebrew word is just as natural for war captives, hostages or exiles.
How it drifted: In modern use 'prisoner' mostly means a person in the justice system, which can make readers assume guilt.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalm 107:10–16 describes those 'bound' ('ăsîrê) in darkness whom God brings out. Isaiah 42:7 and 49:9 use prison-release language for exiles coming home. Verse 12 here coins 'prisoners of hope' ('ăsîrê hattiqwâ).

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

Genesis 39:20 אֲסִירֵ֥י [the] prisoners of

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,
Genesis 39:22 הָ֣אֲסִירִ֔ם the prisoners

And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison.

Job · 1

Job 3:18 אֲסִירִ֣ים prisoners

The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

Psalms · 4

Psalm 68:6 אֲ֭סִירִים prisoners

God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

Here: People held in bonds: war captives, debt prisoners, people in forced labour. Israel in Egypt was the founding example.
Psalm 69:33 אֲ֝סִירָ֗יו prisoners his

For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.

Here: 'His bound ones', from a root meaning 'to tie, bind'. These are people held captive or confined: war captives, exiles, detainees. 'His' marks them as people who belong to him, even though they are in chains.
Psalm 102:20 אָסִ֑יר prisoner[s]

to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,

Here: Literally "one who is bound" (from *ʾasar*, "to tie, fetter"). It is singular but stands for a whole class: prisoners as a group. In this psalm it most naturally means captives and exiles held by foreign powers, not convicted criminals.
Psalm 107:10 אֲסִירֵ֖י prisoners of

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,

Here: From the verb 'to bind, tie up'. These are people who are literally bound. The word is tied to the next two nouns: they are 'prisoners of' misery and of iron.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 14:17 אֲסִירָ֖יו prisoners his

who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

Lamentations · 1

Lamentations 3:34 אֲסִ֥ירֵי [the] prisoners of

To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

Zechariah · 2

Zechariah 9:11 אֲסִירַ֙יִךְ֙ prisoners your

As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Here: 'Your prisoners', literally 'your bound ones'. These are Zion's own people held captive: Judeans and Israelites still scattered in foreign lands. They are not criminals Zion has locked up. Verse 12 calls them 'prisoners of hope'.
Zechariah 9:12 אֲסִירֵ֖י O prisoners of

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Here: 'Prisoners of…'. These are literal captives, the ones God has just promised to release 'from the waterless pit' (9:11). Elsewhere the word describes people held in Babylon, for example Isaiah 14:17, where Babylon's king 'did not let his prisoners go home'.

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