φῠλᾰκ-ή G5438
prison, place of confinement; watch, period of the night; guard, guard post, act of guarding
3. guard, guard post, act of guarding — The act of guarding, a guard post, or a sentinel detail; the activity of keeping watch over persons or property. In Acts 12:10 (phylaken) Peter and the angel pass through 'the first and second guard' -- referring to guard posts or sentinel stations manned by soldiers, not a prison cell or a time period. The Hebrew mishmereth and Arabic hirasa ('guarding/watching') confirm this sense of active guard duty or a guard station. Korean gyeongbi ('guard/security'), Spanish guardia, and Hindi chauki ('guard post') all point to this meaning. This sense is distinguished from 'prison' (the place of confinement itself) and from 'watch' (the time period) by focusing on the personnel or activity of guarding. 1×
AR["حِرَاسَةً"]·ben["প্রহরী"]·DE["Gefängnis"]·EN["guard"]·FR["prison"]·heb["מִשְׁמֶרֶת"]·HI["चौकी"]·ID["penjagaan"]·IT["prigione"]·jav["jagi"]·KO["경비를"]·RU["стражу"]·ES["guardia"]·SW["ulinzi"]·TR["nöbeti"]·urd["پہرے"]
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
1. prison, place of confinement — A place of imprisonment or confinement; a jail, dungeon, or detention facility. This is the most frequent NT sense of phylake, attested across the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation. Includes both singular and plural forms. Used of literal prisons: John the Baptist imprisoned (Matt 14:3, 10 phylake; Mark 6:17, 27 phylake), the parable of the unforgiving servant cast into prison (Matt 18:30), Jesus's teaching on visiting those in prison (Matt 25:36, 39, 43, 44), Peter imprisoned (Luke 22:33 phylaken; Acts 5:19, 22, 25 phylakes/phylake; Acts 8:3, 12:4-6, 17; 16:23-40), Paul's imprisonments (Acts 22:4, 26:10 phylakas; 2 Cor 6:5, 11:23 phylakais), imprisonment of the faithful (Heb 11:36 phylakes), spirits in prison (1 Pet 3:19 phylake), Satan bound in the abyss/prison (Rev 20:7 phylakes). Multilingual glosses uniformly confirm: Arabic sijn/sujuun, Spanish carcel, French prison, German Gefaengnis, Hebrew mishmar/beit kele/ma'asarim, Korean gamok, Hindi bandikhaana/kaaragrih. 41×
AR["السِّجْنِ","سِجْنٍ","سِجْنِ"]·ben["কারাগার","কারাগারে"]·DE["Gefaengnis","Gefängnis"]·EN["prison"]·FR["prison"]·heb["בֵּית-הַסֹּהַר","בֵּית-כֶּלֶא","בֵּית-כֶלֶא","כֶּלֶא","מִשְׁמָר"]·HI["-मन्दिर-में","उन्हें","करग्रिह","कारागृह","जेल","बंदीगृह","बंदीशाला","बन्दीखाना","बन्दीखाने-में","बन्दीगृह"]·ID["penjara","penjara,","penjara;"]·IT["prigione"]·jav["kunjara.","kunjaran","pakunjaran","pakunjaran,","pakunjaran.","pakunjaran;"]·KO["감옥","감옥-에","감옥-으로","감옥에","감옥에,","감옥에도","감옥에서","감옥에서,","감옥으로","그-","데리고-나와"]·PT["prisão"]·RU["темнице","темницу","темницы"]·ES["cárcel","prisión"]·SW["gereza","gerezani","ya"]·TR["hapise","hapishanede","hapishanenin","hapishaneye","hapiste","hapse","zindana","zindanda"]·urd["قید","قید-خانہ","قید-خانے","قید-میں"]
Matt 5:25, Matt 14:3, Matt 14:10, Matt 18:30, Matt 25:36, Matt 25:39, Matt 25:43, Matt 25:44, Mark 6:17, Mark 6:27, Luke 3:20, Luke 12:58 (+29 more)
2. watch, period of the night — A watch or division of the night; one of the periods into which the night was divided for purposes of guard duty, typically three (Jewish) or four (Roman) watches. Used of the time during which events occur at night: Jesus walked on the sea in the 'fourth watch of the night' (Matt 14:25 phylake; Mark 6:48 phylaken), the master may come in the second or third 'watch' (Luke 12:38 phylake), and the householder does not know in which 'watch' the thief comes (Matt 24:43 phylake). This temporal sense is clearly distinct from 'prison' and is confirmed by multilingual glosses: Arabic hazi' ('night watch period'), Spanish vigilia ('vigil/watch'), Hebrew mishmereth/ha-revi'i ('the fourth watch'), Korean yagyeong ('night watch'), Hindi pahar ('a watch of the night'). The plural phylakas in Luke 2:8 refers to 'watches' in the sense of guard duties (shepherds keeping 'watches' over their flock by night). 5×
AR["حِرَاسَاتِ","هَزيعٍ","هَزيعِ","هَزِيعٍ"]·ben["পাহারা","প্রহরে"]·DE["Gefaengnis","Gefängnis"]·EN["watch","watches"]·FR["prison"]·heb["הַרְבִיעִי","מִשְׁמֶרֶת","מִשְׁמָר","מִשְׁמָרוֹת"]·HI["पहर","पहर-में","पहरे"]·ID["jaga"]·IT["prigione"]·jav["jaga","jaga-dalu"]·KO["밤-번에","야경들-을","야경에","파수"]·PT["vigília","vigílias"]·RU["стражи","стражу"]·ES["guardias","vigilia"]·SW["-","-la-usiku","zamu"]·TR["nöbetinde","nöbetleri","nöbette"]·urd["پہر","پہر-میں","پہرے"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
φῠλᾰκ-ή, ἡ, (φύλαξ) watching or guarding, especially by night, φυλακῆς μνήσασθε Refs 8th c.BC+; φυλακὰς ἔχειν keep watch and ward, Refs; φ. κατέχειν Refs 5th c.BC+; φυλακὴ ἔχει αὐτόν watching engages him, variant in Refs 8th c.BC+ tell an unarmed man to stand on the defensive, i.e. to give commands that cannot be obeyed, Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅπως ἀφανὴς εἴη ἡ φ. that there might be nothing visible to…