Because Paul, in Ephesians 4:8, is borrowing from Psalm 68:18, which is a repeat of the words in Judges 5:12, let us carefully examine the words ‘captivity,’ and ‘captive.’
English definitions:
Captivity, n.
1. The state of being captive 2. A group of people/beings captive (obsolete) 3. The state or period of being imprisoned, confined, or enslaved 4. Subjection; servitude; slavery.
Captive, n.
1. A person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war 2. An animal that is confined 3. A person held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion 4. One who has been captured or is otherwise confined 5. One held prisoner
Captive, adj.
1. Taken and held prisoner, as in war 2. Held in bondage; enslaved 3. Kept under restraint or control; confined 4. Enraptured, as by beauty; captivated 5. Restrained by circumstances that prevent free choice
Captive, v.t.
1. To take prisoner 2. To bring into subjection
Hebrew and Greek Definitions:
Captivity, n.
שׁבי, shebiy, those who are or that which is taken captive
αἰχμαλωσία, aichmalōsia, 1. Captivity 2. A group of captives 3. prisoners
Captive, v.t.
שׁבה, shabah, 1. To take captive 2. To lead captive
αἰχμαλωτεύω, aichmalōteuō, to make captive, take captive, capture, lead captive
Note: these definitions are taken from a number of sources.
Source List:
BDAG – Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The University of Chicago Press.
BDB-GESENIUS Hebrew-Aramaic and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Complete and unabridged. By Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles Briggs (all D.D., D.Litt.), dated 1833, 1854, 1858, and 1895.
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Complete and unabridged. Being C. G. Grimm (1861-1868; 1879) and C. L. W. Wilke (1851) Clavis Novi Testamenti Translated, Revised, and Enlarged, by Joseph Henry Thayer, D.D., Hon. Litt.D., Professor of New Testament, Divinity School of Harvard University, 1889.
The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament by Ludwig Koehler And Walter Baumgartner, subsequently revised by Walter Baumgartner and Johann Jakob Stamm, translated and edited under the supervision of M.E.J. Richardson © 1994-2000 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. All rights reserved.
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, edited by W.L. Holladay. Copyright © 1997 by Brill Academic Publishers.
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., Bruce K. Waltke, originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois, Copyright © 1980.
A Concise Dictionary of the Words in The Greek New Testament with Their Renderings in the Authorized English Version, James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1990
WordWeb, copyright © Antony Lewis 2009. All rights reserved.
WordNet database, copyright © 2006 Princeton University. All rights reserved.
Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary, Copyright © 1977, Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. New York
Dictionary.com LLC, Copyright ©2015
Roget’s Thesaurus, Copyright © 1978 Ottenheimer Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved, USA
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