סֹ֫הַר
so.har (H5470)
prison
AI Word Study
# סֹהַר (sohar): Prison in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *sohar* (H5470) carries the straightforward meaning of "prison" or a place of confinement. With eight occurrences across the biblical text, this term represents one of several Hebrew words used to describe incarceration, though its specific frequency suggests it held a particular role in biblical vocabulary for discussing detention and confinement. The limited number of occurrences—just eight instances—indicates that *sohar* was not the most common term for imprisonment in biblical Hebrew, yet it appears consistently enough to represent an established concept in the language. This suggests that prisons as institutional structures existed within the societies described in the biblical texts, and that the authors found it necessary to have designated terminology for such places. The word's presence across multiple contexts within those eight occurrences likely demonstrates its use in describing various situations involving confinement, though without access to the specific passages, we can note only that the term maintained a consistent semantic field around the concept of imprisonment.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody.
But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it.
The keeper of the prison didn’t look after anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it prosper.
He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.