asar · bind

What it means

asar (אָסַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “bind”.

Tie, bind; from there, imprison, keep a prisoner; harness (an animal).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To tie with ropes, or yoke animals.
2. To keep someone shut up, like a prisoner.
3. To commit oneself by a vow.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To tie, bind with ropes; from there to hold prisoner, imprison. It is also said of yoking animals and harnessing a chariot, and, in vows, of binding oneself. Of the same root are אָסִיר (prisoner) and אֱסָר (obligation).

• Binding a person Genesis 42:24Judges 15:13Judges 16:12
• Prisoners, those confined Genesis 40:3Psalms 146:7
• Hitching cows or harnessing a chariot 1 Samuel 6:7Genesis 46:29
• Binding oneself with a vow or an obligation Numbers 30:5
• Binding the donkey to the vine Genesis 49:11

Historical and cultural background

Numbers 30 regulates the vows by which a person binds his soul: the father or the husband could annul a woman's vow on the day he heard of it (Numbers 30:5).

How we translate it

“Bind” 13 times, “bound” 12, “bound him” 11; “prisoners” 6 when it names those in prison (Psalm 146:7); “hitch” 3 with draught animals and “harnessed” with a chariot (Genesis 46:29). In Numbers 30, “she has bound” with the obligation of the vow (7 times), to keep the image of the tie.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• bind ×13
• bound ×12
• bound him ×11
• she has bound ×7
• prisoners ×6
• binds ×3
• hitch ×3
• harnessed ×2
• tied ×2
• were confined ×2
• others ×11

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×8
• Exodus×1
• Numbers×11
• Judges×17
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Kings×7
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×3
• Psalms×4
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×1

• Genesis 39:20

  Joseph’s lord took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison.

• Genesis 40:3

  and he put them in custody in the house of the chief of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined.

• Genesis 40:5

  And the two of them dreamed a dream, each his own dream, in one night, each according to the interpretation of his dream: the cupbearer and the baker who belonged to the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison.

• Genesis 42:16

  Send one of you, and let him get your brother, while you are kept in prison, so that your words may be tested, whether the truth is with you; and if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”

• Genesis 42:19

  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be held prisoner in the house where you are held, and you go, take grain for the hunger of your households.

• Genesis 42:24

  He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

• Genesis 46:29

  Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He appeared to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time.

• Genesis 49:11

  Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes.

• Exodus 14:6

  So he harnessed his chariot and took his people with him.

• Numbers 30:2

  When a man vows a vow to YHWH or swears an oath to bind an obligation on his soul, he shall not profane his word; according to all that comes out of his mouth he shall do.

• Numbers 30:3

  And when a woman vows a vow to YHWH and binds an obligation on herself in the house of her father in her youth,

• Numbers 30:4

  and her father hears her vow and her obligation that she has bound on her soul, and her father keeps silent toward her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation that she has bound on her soul shall stand.

• Numbers 30:5

  But if her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations that she has bound on her soul shall stand; and YHWH will forgive her, because her father forbade her.

• Numbers 30:6

  And if she does belong to a husband while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips that she has bound on her soul,

• Numbers 30:7

  and her husband hears of it and on the day he hears it keeps silent toward her, then her vows shall stand, and her obligations that she has bound on her soul shall stand.

• Numbers 30:8

  But if on the day her husband hears of it he forbids her, then he annuls her vow that is on her and the rash utterance of her lips that she has bound on her soul; and YHWH will forgive her.

• Numbers 30:9

  But the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything that she has bound on her soul, shall stand against her.

• Numbers 30:10

  And if in the house of her husband she vowed or bound an obligation on her soul with an oath,

• Numbers 30:11

  and her husband heard of it and kept silent toward her and did not forbid her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation that she bound on her soul shall stand.

• Judges 15:10

  And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “To bind Samson we have come up, to do to him as he did to us.”

• Judges 15:12

  And they said to him, “To bind you we have come down, to give you into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me.”

• Judges 15:13

  And they said to him, “No, but we will surely bind you and give you into their hand, but we will certainly not put you to death.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the crag.

• Judges 16:5

  And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, so that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give you, each one, eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

• Judges 16:6

  So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, please, in what your great strength lies, and with what you could be bound to afflict you.”

• Judges 16:7

  And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any human being.”

• Judges 16:8

  And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

• Judges 16:10

  And Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have deceived me and told me lies. Now tell me, please, with what you could be bound.”

• Judges 16:11

  And he said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak and be like any human being.”

• Judges 16:12

  So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the ambush was waiting in the room. But he snapped them from off his arms like a thread.

• Judges 16:13

  And Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me with what you could be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the warp…”

• Judges 16:21

  And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze fetters; and he was grinding in the house of the prisoners.

• Judges 16:25

  And it happened, when their heart was merry, that they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson from the house of the prisoners, and he made them laugh in their presence; and they stood him between the pillars.

• 1 Samuel 6:7

  So now, take and make one new cart and two nursing cows on which no yoke has come and hitch the cows to the cart, and take their calves back home from behind them.

• 1 Samuel 6:10

  And the men did so; they took two nursing cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

• 2 Samuel 3:34

  Your hands were not bound, and your feet were not put into fetters of bronze; as one falls before unjust men, you fell.” And all the people wept again over him.

• 1 Kings 18:44

  And it happened at the seventh time that he said, “Look, a small cloud, like the palm of a man, is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Hitch your chariot and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’”

• 1 Kings 20:14

  Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘By the young men of the commanders of the provinces.’” And he said, “Who will start the battle?” He said, “You.”

• 2 Kings 7:10

  They came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of Aram, and there was no one there, not a human sound, but only the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.”

• 2 Kings 9:21

  Joram said, “Hitch up.” And his chariot was hitched up, and Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and they found him at the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite.

• 2 Kings 17:4

  But the king of Assyria found in Hoshea a conspiracy, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had not brought up tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria detained him and bound him in prison.

And 32 more times.