אָסַר

From the study of Isaiah 49:9

Range of meaning

The verb ʾāsar means to tie, bind, harness (an animal), or fetter and imprison (a person). It also means to bind oneself with a vow. The passive participle ʾāsûr means “one who is bound”: a captive, a prisoner of war, a person in fetters or confinement. The house of the ʾăsûrîm is a prison (Judges 16:21, 25; Genesis 39:20).

Against the English

English “prisoners” suggests convicts serving sentences for crimes. The Hebrew has no such implication. It describes a condition (being bound or held) and does not say why. “Captives” or “those who are bound” (WEB, NASB) keeps that sense better.

How it drifted

Modern prison systems that punish crime have shaped what “prisoner” brings to mind. In the ancient Near East, imprisonment was mostly detention of debtors, war captives and political hostages, not a sentence for wrongdoing.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 107:10 pictures “those who sat in darkness and deep gloom, bound (ʾăsîrê) in affliction and iron.” Psalm 146:7 says “the LORD sets the prisoners (ʾăsûrîm) free.” Isaiah 61:1 has “release to the bound ones (laʾăsûrîm).” King Jehoiachin, actually imprisoned in Babylon and released by Evil-merodach (2 Kings 25:27–30), gave the exiles a living image of a captive king of Judah.

From the study of Psalm 118:27

Range of meaning

To tie, bind (Samson with ropes, Judges 15:13; 16:11); to imprison; to harness or hitch animals or a chariot (Genesis 46:29; 1 Samuel 6:7, 10); to bind oneself with a vow (Numbers 30). In the idiom 'bind the battle' (1 Kings 20:14; 2 Chronicles 13:3) it means to set the battle in array, to begin or join it.

Against the English

Most formal translations (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB) say 'bind'. NIV and NRSV take the battle idiom as a model and render it 'join in' or 'bind the festal procession', i.e. form up and begin. YLT's 'Direct ye' is a guess in the same direction.

Used elsewhere in the period

The 'bind the battle' idiom is the main grammatical support for a reading like 'form up the festival'. The Septuagint's systēsasthe heortēn, 'organise/set up a feast', reflects that understanding. The Aramaic Targum instead pictures binding the festival lamb with chains until it is sacrificed.

From the study of Psalm 146:7

Range of meaning

To tie, bind, harness or fetter. It is used of tying animals (Gen 49:11), binding captives (Judg 15:10–13; 2 Kgs 25:7, Zedekiah bound in bronze fetters), and confining someone in a ruler's prison (Gen 39:20; 40:3, 5, 'the place where the king's prisoners were bound'). The related noun ʾāsîr means 'prisoner, captive'. Here the participle means 'those who are bound'.

Against the English

'Prisoners' is correct, but a modern reader pictures a convicted criminal serving a sentence in a penitentiary. Israel's law did not use long imprisonment as a punishment. Those 'bound' in the biblical world were mostly war captives, people held for debt or forced labour, people held while awaiting a decision, or people jailed at a ruler's whim (Joseph; Jeremiah, Jer 37–38).

How it drifted

Modern prison systems that punish with fixed sentences shape what 'prisoners' brings to mind. That institution is largely absent from the world of the psalm.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 68:6 [7 Heb]: God 'leads out prisoners (ʾăsîrîm) into prosperity'. Psalm 69:33 [34 Heb]: he 'does not despise his prisoners'. Psalm 102:20 [21 Heb] and Ps 107:10–16 describe people 'bound in affliction and iron' whom God frees. Isaiah 61:1 announces 'opening for the bound (ʾăsûrîm)'. In Mesopotamia, kings issued mīšarum or andurārum decrees that freed debt-slaves, and Israel had a comparable 'release' (dərôr) in Lev 25:10 and Jer 34:8–17.