φυλακή
guard
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Dative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine 17 times (37%)
- Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine 15 times (33%)
- Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine 6 times (13%)
- Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine 3 times (7%)
- Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine 3 times (7%)
- Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine 2 times (4%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 46 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G5438 appears — 45 distinct verses across 9 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Matthew 10 verses
- Matthew 5:25 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
- Matthew 14:3 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem For Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.
- Matthew 14:10 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
- Matthew 14:25 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
- Matthew 18:30 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.
- Matthew 24:43 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
- Matthew 25:36 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.'
- Matthew 25:39 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?'
- Matthew 25:43 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in; naked, and you didn't clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn't visit me.'
- Matthew 25:44 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem "Then they will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't help you?'
Mark 3 verses
- Mark 6:17 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.
- Mark 6:28 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother.
- Mark 6:48 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem Seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary to them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea, and he would have passed by them,
Luke 8 verses
- Luke 2:8 φυλακὰς n acc pl fem There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
- Luke 3:20 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.
- Luke 12:38 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.
- Luke 12:58 φυλακήν n acc sg fem For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
- Luke 21:12 φυλακάς n acc pl fem But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake.
- Luke 22:33 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem He said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!"
- Luke 23:19 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.
- Luke 23:25 φυλακήν n acc sg fem He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.
John 1 verse
Acts 16 verses
- Acts 5:19 φυλακῆς n gen sg fem But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out, and said,
- Acts 5:22 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem But the officers who came didn't find them in the prison. They returned and reported,
- Acts 5:25 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem One came and told them, "Behold, the men whom you put in prison are in the temple, standing and teaching the people."
- Acts 8:3 φυλακήν n acc sg fem But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.
- Acts 12:4 φυλακήν n acc sg fem When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
- Acts 12:5 φυλακῇ n dat sg fem Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.
- Acts 12:6 φυλακήν n acc sg fem The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.
- Acts 12:10 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
- Acts 12:17 φυλακῆς n gen sg fem But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, "Tell these things to James, and to the brothers." Then he departed, and went to another place.
- Acts 16:23 φυλακήν n acc sg fem When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
- Acts 16:24 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem who, having received such a charge, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
- Acts 16:27 φυλακῆς n gen sg fem The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
- Acts 16:37 φυλακήν n acc sg fem But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most assuredly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!"
- Acts 16:40 φυλακῆς n gen sg fem They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia's house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.
- Acts 22:4 φυλακὰς n acc pl fem I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
- Acts 26:10 φυλακαῖς n dat pl fem This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
2 Corinthians 2 verses
- 2 Corinthians 6:5 φυλακαῖς n dat pl fem in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 φυλακαῖς n dat pl fem Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
Hebrews 1 verse
1 Peter 1 verse
Revelation 3 verses
- Revelation 2:10 φυλακὴν n acc sg fem Don't be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
- Revelation 18:2 φυλακὴ φυλακὴ n nom sg fem n nom sg fem He cried with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!
- Revelation 20:7 φυλακῆς n gen sg fem And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, φυλακη (phylakḗ) means “guard.” First canonically at Matthew 5:25, it enters the text early. It appears 45 verses across 9 books of the Greek New Testament, among its moderately common vocabulary. The word gravitates to Acts (36%), then Matthew and Luke. It shares a root with φυλασσω, φυλακτηριον and φυλαξ. Dig into 45-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G5438 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 45
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 45 distinct verses.
- 9 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 9 of 27 New Testament books.
- #334
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 334 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 45 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 45 distinct verses.
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 24 verses · 53%
- Gospels 22 verses · 49%
- Johannine 4 verses · 9%
- Revelation 3 verses · 7%
- Pauline corpus 2 verses · 4%
- Hebrews 1 verse · 2%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 1 verse · 2%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Prison 33×, Watch 6×, Prisons 3×
- American Standard Version: Prison 31×, Watch 5×, Prisons 4×
- Berean Standard Bible: Prison 27×, Jail 3×, Watch 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Prison 33×, Watch 5×, The 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G5438 across 47 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G5438 across 48 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G5438 across 43 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 4 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G5438 across 50 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 1 sense Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- guard, watch
Word origin
Derived from φυλασσω (phylássō) (G5442) — to guard.
From G5442 ; a guarding or (concretely guard ) the act the parson; figuratively the place the condition or (specifically) the time (as a division of day or night) literally or figuratively : - cage hold (im-) prison (-ment) ward watch.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 8 distinct written forms G5438 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| φυλακῇ phylakē̂ | Noun, Dative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 14:3 | 17 |
| φυλακὴν phylakḕn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Matthew 5:25 | 8 |
| φυλακήν phylakḗn | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Luke 12:58 | 7 |
| φυλακῆς phylakē̂s | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Feminine | Acts 5:19 | 6 |
| φυλακαῖς phylakaîs | Noun, Dative, Plural, Feminine | Acts 26:10 | 3 |
| φυλακὰς phylakàs | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | Luke 2:8 | 2 |
| φυλακὴ phylakḕ | Noun, Nominative, Singular, Feminine | Revelation 18:2 | 2 |
| φυλακάς phylakás | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Feminine | Luke 21:12 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G5438, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word φυλακη appears 105 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 95 verses in 21 books.
- 105
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 95
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 21 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 21 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 40:3 φυλακή
- Exodus 14:24 φυλακή
- Leviticus 24:12 φυλακή
- Numbers 1:53 φυλακή
- Judges 7:19 φυλακή
- 1 Samuel 11:11 φυλακή
- 2 Samuel 20:3 φυλακή
- 1 Kings 2:3 φυλακή
- 2 Kings 11:5 φυλακή
- 1 Chronicles 9:19 φυλακή
- 2 Chronicles 7:6 φυλακή
- Ezra 13:25 φυλακή
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G5438) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 95. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 40:3 φυλακή He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
- Genesis 40:4 φυλακή The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
- Genesis 40:7 φυλακή He asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"
- Genesis 41:10 φυλακή Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker.
- Genesis 42:17 φυλακή He put them all together into custody three days.
- Genesis 42:19 φυλακή If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison-house; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.
- Genesis 42:30 φυλακή "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
- Exodus 14:24 φυλακή It happened in the morning watch, that Yahweh looked out on the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and confused the Egyptian army.
- Leviticus 24:12 φυλακή They put him in custody, until the will of Yahweh should be declared to them.
- Numbers 1:53 φυλακή But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony."
- Numbers 3:7 φυλακή They shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.
- Numbers 3:8 φυλακή They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.
- Numbers 3:25 φυλακή The charge of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,
- Numbers 3:28 φυλακή According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.
- Numbers 3:31 φυλακή Their charge shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service.
- Numbers 3:32 φυλακή Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be prince of the princes of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the charge of the sanctuary.
- Numbers 3:36 φυλακή The appointed charge of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle's boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service,
- Numbers 3:38 φυλακή Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.
- Numbers 4:28 φυλακή This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
- Numbers 4:32 φυλακή and the pillars of the court around it, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name you shall appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden.
- Numbers 8:26 φυλακή but shall minister with their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites concerning their duties."
- Numbers 9:19 φυλακή When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of Yahweh, and didn't travel.
- Numbers 9:23 φυλακή At the commandment of Yahweh they encamped, and at the commandment of Yahweh they traveled. They kept the charge of Yahweh, at the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.
- Numbers 15:34 φυλακή They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
- Numbers 18:3 φυλακή They shall keep your charge, and the charge of all the Tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they, nor you.
- Numbers 18:4 φυλακή They shall be joined to you, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.
- Numbers 18:5 φυλακή You shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar; that there be wrath no more on the children of Israel.
- Numbers 31:30 φυλακή Of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, [even] of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tent of Yahweh.
- Numbers 31:47 φυλακή even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tent of Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Judges 7:19 φυλακή So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
- Judges 16:25 φυλακή It happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. They called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made sport before them. They set him between the pillars:
- 1 Samuel 11:11 φυλακή It was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it happened, that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
- 2 Samuel 20:3 φυλακή David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and provided them with sustenance, but didn't go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood.
- 1 Kings 2:3 φυλακή and keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, [and] his commandments, and his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.
- 1 Kings 22:27 φυλακή and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
- 2 Kings 11:5 φυλακή He commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;
- 2 Kings 11:6 φυλακή A third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall you keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier.
- 2 Kings 11:7 φυλακή The two companies of you, even all who go forth on the Sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of Yahweh about the king.
- 2 Kings 17:4 φυλακή The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
- 2 Kings 25:27 φυλακή It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
- 2 Kings 25:29 φυλακή and changed his prison garments. [Jehoiachin] ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:
- 1 Chronicles 9:19 φυλακή Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father's house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent: and their fathers had been over the camp of Yahweh, keepers of the entry.
- 1 Chronicles 9:27 φυλακή They lodged round about the house of God, because the charge [of it] was on them; and to them pertained the opening of it morning by morning.
- 1 Chronicles 12:30 φυλακή Of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers' houses.
- 1 Chronicles 23:32 φυλακή and that they should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of Yahweh.
- 1 Chronicles 26:16 φυλακή To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the gate of Shallecheth, at the causeway that goes up, watch against watch.
- 2 Chronicles 7:6 φυλακή The priests stood, according to their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of Yahweh, which David the king had made to give thanks to Yahweh, (for his loving kindness endures for ever), when David praised by their ministry: and the priests sounded trumpets before them; and all Israel stood.
- 2 Chronicles 8:14 φυλακή He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded.
- 2 Chronicles 13:11 φυλακή and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the show bread also [set they] in order on the pure table; and the lampstand of gold with the lamps of it, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Yahweh our God; but you have forsaken him.
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 φυλακή Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison-house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G5438) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
