αἰχμᾰλ-ωσία G0161
captivity; the state or experience of being taken prisoner, or collective captives
A noun expressing both the condition of captivity and the body of captives. Ephesians 4:8 quotes Psalm 68: Christ 'led captivity captive'—either taking captives himself or liberating the captive host. Revelation 13:10 warns that those destined for captivity will go into captivity—divine justice ensuring oppressors experience what they inflicted. The term evokes Israel's historical exiles and military defeats.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Denotes the state or collective reality of being taken prisoner. Ephesians' usage is metaphorically complex—Christ's triumph over hostile powers described as capturing captivity itself, possibly liberating those held captive. Revelation's double occurrence in one verse establishes lex talionis: captors becoming captives. The multilingual consensus (Spanish 'cautividad,' French 'captivité,' German 'Gefangenschaft') shows semantic stability. Both passages evoke military-theological imagery of conquest and reversal. 3×
AR["سَبيًا", "سَبيٍ"]·ben["বন্দিত্ব", "বন্দিত্বে"]·DE["Gefangenschaft"]·EN["captivity"]·FR["captivité"]·heb["שְׁבִי", "שֶׁבִי"]·HI["बंधुआई", "बनधवै"]·ID["penawanan", "tawanan,"]·IT["aichmalōsian"]·jav["tawanan", "tawanan,"]·KO["포로", "포로들을,"]·PT["cativeiro", "o-cativeiro,"]·RU["плен", "плен,"]·ES["cautividad"]·SW["mateka", "utumwa"]·TR["esaret", "esarete", "esirlik"]·urd["قید"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
αἰχμᾰλ-ωσία, ἡ, captivity, LXX+1st c.BC+ __II body of captives, LXX+1st c.BC+