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Prison

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Prisoners
• Prison
Thompson Chain Reference
• Prisons
• Keepers of Prisons
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Prisoner
• Prison
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Prisons
Dictionaries
American Church Dictionary
• Visitation of Prisoners
• Prisoners
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Prison
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
• Spirits in Prison
• Prison, Spirits in
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Prison
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Spirits in Prison
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Spirits in Prison
• Prison, Prisoners
• Prison Gate
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Spirits in Prison
• Prison
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Spirits in Prison
• Prisoner
• Prison (2)
•   (only first 3 shown)
King James Dictionary
• Prisoner
• Prison
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Prison
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Society, Catholic Prisoners' Aid
• Prisons
• Prison, Mamertine
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• Prison
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Prison
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Prisoner
• Prison, Prison-House
• Prison Keeper
Wilson's Bible Types
• Prisoners
• Prison
Webster Dictionary
• Prisonment
• Prisoning
• Prisoner
•   (only first 3 shown)
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Fleet Prison
• Prison
• Prisoners of War
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Prison Garments
• Prison, Spirits in
• Prison; Prisoner
•   (only first 3 shown)
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Prison
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Prison
• Prison Reform
• Prison, Ecclesiastical.
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Fleet Prison
• Millbank Prison
• Prisoner of Chillon
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Ecclesiastical Prisons
• Mamertine Prison
• Prisons
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Prison
Lexicons
• ܐܰܣܺܝܪܳܐ
• ܒ݁ܶܝܬ݂‌ܐܰܣܺܝܪܶܐ
• αἰχμαλωτίζω
• δέσμιος
• δεσμοφύλαξ
•   (only first 3 shown)
• אֵסורּ
• אָסִיר
• אַסִּיר
•   (only first 3 shown)

God has given governments the right to send law-breakers to prison (Romans 13:4), but he forbids brutal or excessive punishments. The punishment must be in proportion to the crime (Exodus 21:23-25).

In Bible times all sorts of places were used as prisons. In some cases there were official state prisons (Genesis 39:20; 2 Kings 17:4; Mark 6:17; Acts 12:4; Acts 16:24), though in other cases a prisoner may have been locked in the soldiers’ barracks at the palace (Jeremiah 32:2), dropped into an old disused well (Jeremiah 38:6), or kept under guard in a private house (Acts 28:16; Acts 28:30). Often the prison conditions were bad (Jeremiah 37:18-20), the food poor (2 Chronicles 18:26) and the treatment cruel (Judges 16:21; Judges 16:25; Jeremiah 52:11; Ezekiel 19:9).

Such conditions were not as common in Israel as in neighbouring countries, because the law of Moses encouraged respect for justice and human life. The guilty were to be punished, but they were not to be degraded (Deuteronomy 25:3; cf. Numbers 15:34). (For further details see PUNISHMENT.)