To yoke or hitch ; by analogy, to fasten in any sense, to join battle
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The Hebrew verb asar describes tying, binding, harnessing, confining, or preparing something by fastening it. Animals can be hitched, chariots made ready, people held as prisoners, and a person's words treated as binding in vow legislation.
Reader summary
Full entry for אָסַר (H631) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb asar describes tying, binding, harnessing, confining, or preparing something by fastening it. Animals can be hitched, chariots made ready, people held as prisoners, and a person's words treated as binding in vow legislation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 71 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (4), bound (3), she has bound (3), you can be tied up (3), and bound him (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 39:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Judges (15), Numbers (11), Genesis (9), 2 Kings (7).
The Hebrew verb asar describes tying, binding, harnessing, confining, or preparing something by fastening it. Animals can be hitched, chariots made ready, people held as prisoners, and a person's words treated as binding in vow legislation. Narratives show both legitimate preparation and unjust custody. Joseph is confined despite innocence, Samson is bound during conflict, and Psalms praises the Lord who releases prisoners.
The verb names restraint but does not establish that the restraint is lawful, safe, or righteous. Vow texts in Numbers belong to Israel's covenant household legislation and require careful historical reading; they must not be used to grant modern family members control over another adult's conscience or speech. Responsible teaching asks who binds, what is restrained, by what authority, for how long, and with what possibility of review or release.
It rejects forced vows, restraint as punishment, and spiritualized captivity while honoring lawful safeguards, truthful commitments, and the Lord's concern for those in bonds.
Asar ranges from practical fastening and harnessing to custody, imprisonment, and binding commitments. Object, agent, legal setting, and narrative evaluation determine whether the bond prepares, protects, confines, oppresses, or obligates.
So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,
Joseph's master places him in the prison where the king's prisoners are confined after a false accusation.
And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.
Joseph takes Simeon from the brothers and has him bound before their eyes during the testing narrative.
If a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.
A man who makes a vow to the Lord is not to violate his word within Israel's vow legislation.
“No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
The men of Judah bind Samson with new ropes and hand him over to the Philistines.
On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
Elijah tells Ahab to prepare or hitch his chariot and go down before the rain stops him.
He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free,
The psalm praises the Lord who upholds justice, feeds the hungry, and sets prisoners free.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Binding action that moves from physical restraint (yoking animals) to martial engagement and imprisonment.
Binding action that moves from physical restraint (yoking animals) to martial engagement and imprisonment.
to yoke or hitch; by analogy, to fasten in any sense, to join battle BDB: tie Usage: bind, fast, gird, harness, hold, keep, make ready, order, prepare, prison(-er), put in bonds, set in array, tie.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 73 lexical occurrence verses.
אָסַר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Asar can prepare a chariot or confine an innocent person. That contrast prevents readers from treating binding as a moral good in itself. Joseph's imprisonment follows a false accusation and shows that official custody can be unjust. His later binding of Simeon occurs within a complex family test and should not be copied as a conflict-resolution method. Judges reports Samson bound and transferred during violent political conflict.
Numbers 30 uses binding language for vows within Israel's covenant and household structures. The chapter takes words before God seriously, but its gendered legal arrangements are not a warrant for a modern father, husband, pastor, or institution to control another adult's conscience, finances, medical decisions, or promises. First Kings uses the verb for hitching a chariot, reminding readers that some bonds are ordinary preparation.
Psalm 146 provides a strong theological horizon: the Lord executes justice and frees prisoners. Faithful application values truthful commitments and safe equipment while scrutinizing custody, contracts, vows, and restraints for justice. Physical restraint requires narrow lawful or emergency justification and trained oversight. Spiritual care should open paths toward truth and freedom, not create dependence through threats, secrecy, or unreviewable promises.
Ps.146.7
Asar is a Hebrew verb for tying or binding and can apply to animals, equipment, people, or words. Passive forms often describe prisoners or restrained persons, while direct objects and legal formulas distinguish practical fastening from obligation.
New Testament bondage, imprisonment, vows, liberation, and yoke language uses several Greek terms. Canonical comparison can trace justice and freedom without treating every bond as the same institution or spiritual condition.