noun · feminine
fulakas
Strong’sG5438
a watching, guard, prison, imprisonment
stem fulak-47 times in the New Testamentin 9 of 27 books6 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
φυλακή covers several related ideas built around the notion of guarding.
Its most basic sense is the act of watching or keeping guard, especially by night 123. It can also refer to the state or condition of being watched over 2.
From this comes the sense of the guard itself, that is, the person or persons doing the watching — sentinels or a body of guards 123.
It also names the place where guarded persons are kept, a prison or place of confinement 1234, and by extension the condition of being imprisoned 24.
Finally, it denotes a division of time used for keeping watch at night, a "watch" of the night 1234.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
φυλακή, -ῆς, ἡ
(< φυλάσσω) [in LXX chiefly for מִשְׁמֶרֶת and cogn. forms, also for כֶּלֶא etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5438 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidfoo-lak-ay'
a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the person; figuratively, the place, the condition, or (specially), the time (as a division of day or night), literally or figuratively
Fromfrom G5442;
King Jamescage, hold, (im-)prison(-ment), ward, watch.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
(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 watch, Refs 5th c.BC+; φυλακὰς φυλάξειν keep watch and ward, Refs 5th c.BC+; φυλακὰς καταστήσασθαι, κατασκευάσασθαι, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 watch or guard, of persons, NT+5th c.BC+; φ. τοῦ σώματος a body guard, Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.; garrison of a place or fortress, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ ἐν τῇ Ναυπάκτῳ φ., of a squadron of ships, Refs 5th c.BC+
2.b the rank of φύλακες, Refs 5th c.BC+
3 station, post, Refs 8th c.BC+; Διὸς φ., Refs 4th c.BC+ name for the centre of the universe, Refs 4th c.BC+
4 of time, a watch of the night, ἐπεὰν τῆς νυκτὸς ἦ δευτέρη φ. Refs 5th c.BC+; πρώτης φ. ἀρχομένης Wilcken Refs 3rd c.BC+; φυλακαῖσι νυκτέροισιν Refs 5th c.BC+: of these there were three, accusative to Refs 5th c.BC+; but five are mentioned in Refs 7th c.BC+; and the Roman division was four, NT
5 place for keeping others in, ward, prison, δημοσία φ. NT+1st c.BC+; πολιτικὴ φ. the town-prison, Refs 1st c.AD+
6 Astrology texts ={ταπείνωμα}, Refs
II guarding, keeping, preserving, whether for security or custody, ἐν φυλακῇ ἔχειν τινά Refs 5th c.BC+; τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἔχειν ἐν φ. to keep the Isthmus guarded or occupied, Refs; τὸν ἠνείκαντο γλώσσης χαρακτῆρα τοῦτον ἔχειν ἐν φ. to preserve the same character of language, Refs 6th c.BC+; στόματος φυλακᾷ κατασχεῖν φθόγγον probably in Refs 4th c.BC+; ἐν φ. σχεθέμεν μεγάλᾳ be very ware of, Refs 5th c.BC+; φυλακὴν ἔχειν, ={φυλάττεσθαι}, keep guard, be on the watch, περί τινα Refs 5th c.BC+; φ. ἔχειν μή.. Refs 5th c.BC+; φ. λαμβάνειν μή.. Refs 4th c.BC+; δεινῶς ἦσαν ἐν φυλακῇσι were straitly on their guard, Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 custody of property, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.3 safeguard, τὴν μεγίστην φ. ἀνῄρηκε τῆς πόλεως its chief safeguard, Refs 5th c.BC+; δημοκρατίας, μοναρχίας φ., Refs 5th c.BC+
III (from middle) precaution, πολλῆς φ. ἔργον Refs 5th c.BC+
III.2 with genitive, precaution against, εὐλάβεια φ. κακοῦ Refs 5th c.BC+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | fulakas3×φυλακὴ | fulakais |
| object accusative | fulakan15×φυλακὴν | fulakain3×φυλακὰς |
| direct address vocative | fulakar | fulakair |
| of, belonging to genitive | fulakau6×φυλακῆς | fulakaiu |
| to, for dative | fulaka17×φυλακῇ | fulakai3×φυλακαῖς |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
fulaka is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
47 occurrences, every one of them listed
fulakas“haunt”subjectnominative singular3×
Revelation 18:2“haunt”… megas, kai geneta katoikētēriem daimoneiu kai fulakas panteu pneumeu akatharteu kai fulakas panteu …… Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable …
Revelation 18:2… kai fulakas panteu pneumeu akatharteu kai fulakas panteu ornitheu akatharteu kai fulakas panteu …… a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean …
Revelation 18:2“haunt”… kai fulakas panteu ornitheu akatharteu kai fulakas panteu thēreu akatharteu kai misorēnteu,… and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
fulakan“prison”objectaccusative singular15×
Matthew 5:25… tos kritos to hupēreto, kai eis fulakan balisi;… and you may be thrown into prison.
Matthew 18:30… thelate, alla apercharantos balata auton eis fulakan heōs hou apodōateia tem ofeilorōntem.… and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.
Mark 6:48… tos anemos enantios autoi, peri tetartan fulakan tau nuktau erchotō pros autoin peripatarōntos …… was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out …
Luke 12:58… kai tos praktoros sin balati eis fulakan.… the officer may throw you into prison.
Luke 22:33… meta su hetoimos amō kai eis fulakan kai eis thanaton poreuorō.… to go with You even to prison and to death.”
Luke 23:25“prison”… dia stasian kai fonon balorēnton eis fulakan hon aitole, ton de Iēsun paradōata …… he released the one imprisoned for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over to their …
John 3:24oupō gar ate balorēntos eis tan fulakan tos Iōannos.… had not yet been thrown into prison.)
Acts 8:3… tē androin kai gunaikain paradōate eis fulakan.… and women and put them in prison.
Acts 12:4hon kai piazarantos titheta eis fulakan, paradōarantos tessares tetradiei stratiōtoiu fulassarō auton, …… arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded …
Acts 12:6… tē pro tau thurau tērale tan fulakan.… guard at the entrance to the prison.
Acts 12:10“guard”diercharantois de prōtan fulakan kai deuteran erchala epi tan pulan …They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to …
Acts 16:23… tē epititharantois autoi plēgain balala eis fulakan, parangelarantois to desmofulaxo asfalōs tērarō autoin;… many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard …
Acts 16:24“prison”… labarantos balata autoin eis tan esōteran fulakan kai toin podoin asfalizeta autoiu eis …… he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Acts 16:37… akatakritoin, anthrōpoin Rōmaioin huparcharōntoin, balala eis fulakan; kai nun lathra nin ekbalalō? ouk …… a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens …
Revelation 2:10… balarō tos diabolos ek vu eis fulakan hina peiraziveia, kai echavi thlipsian hēmeraiu …… to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will …
fulakau“prison”of, belonging togenitive singular6×
Acts 5:19“prison”… dia nuktau anoigata tain thurain tau fulakau exagarantos tē autoin legata;But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying,
Acts 12:17… tos kurios auton exagata ek tau fulakau, legata tē; Apangelavar Iakōbo kai toi …… had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to …
Acts 16:27… kai horarantos anoigorēntain tain thurain tau fulakau sperantos tan machairan mellate heauton anairarō, …… jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword …
Acts 16:40exercharantois de apo tau fulakau eiserchala pros tan Ludian, kai horarantois …… and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house to …
Hebrews 11:36… peiran labala, ēti de desmoiu kai fulakau;… and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
Revelation 20:7… eteim, luiti tos Satanos ek tau fulakau autou,… Satan will be released from his prison,
fulaka“prison”to, fordative singular17×
Matthew 14:3… ton Iōannon data auton kai en fulaka apotitheta dia Hērōdiadan tan gunaikan Filippou …… bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother …
Matthew 14:10… pemparantos apokefalizata ton Iōannon en ta fulaka;… to have John beheaded in the prison.
Matthew 14:25tetarta de fulaka tau nuktau erchata pros autoin peripatarōntos …During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out …
Matthew 24:43“part of the night”… hoti ei oidatelē tos oikodespotos poia fulaka tos kleptos erchotō, grēgorata an kai …… understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not …
Matthew 25:36… min, asthenama kai episkepteva min, en fulaka ome kai erchava pros min.… looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
Matthew 25:39… de sin horana asthenarōnton ē en fulaka kai erchana pros sin?… we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’
Matthew 25:43… ouk peribalava min, asthenos kai en fulaka kai ouk episkepteva min.… Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after …
Matthew 25:44… ē gumnon ē asthenon ē en fulaka kai ouk diakonana si?… or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
Mark 6:17“prison”… ton Iōannon kai data auton en fulaka dia Hērōdiadan tan gunaikan Filippou tou …… ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod …
Mark 6:27… kai apercharantos apokefalizata auton en ta fulaka… went and beheaded him in the prison.
Luke 3:20… pantei, kai katakleiata ton Iōannon en fulaka.… all: He locked John up in prison.
Luke 12:38… ta deutera kan en ta trita fulaka erchateia kai heuriskateia houtōs, makariois alō …… comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants …
Luke 23:19“prison”… pola kai fonon balirantos en ta fulaka.… in the city, and for murder.)
Acts 5:22“prison”… hupēretois ouk heuriskala autoin en ta fulaka, anastrefarantois de apangelala… jail, the officers did not find them there. So they returned with the report:
Acts 5:25“prison”… tois androis hoin titheva en ta fulaka alō en te hiere stēarēntois kai …… came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!”
Acts 12:5… men oun Petros tērote en ta fulaka; proseuchas de ate ektenōs genorōntas hupo …So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying …
1 Peter 3:19en he kai tei en fulaka pneumei poreuirantos kērussata,… and preached to the spirits in prison
fulakain“watch”objectaccusative plural3×
Luke 2:8… chōra ta auta agraularōntois kai fulassarōntois fulakain tau nuktau epi tan poimnan autoiu.… residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
Luke 21:12… diōkali, paradōarōntois eis tain sunagōgain kai fulakain, apagorōntoin epi basilevoin kai hēgemonoin heneken …… deliver you to the synagogues and prisons, and they will bring you before …
Acts 22:4… achri thanatou, desmeuarōntos kai paradōarōntos eis fulakain androin tē kai gunaikain,… and women and throwing them into prison,
fulakai“imprisonments”to, fordative plural3×
Acts 26:10… polloin tē toiu hagioiu mis en fulakai katakleiama tan para toiu archierevoiu exousian …… put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to …
2 Corinthians 6:5en plēgai, en fulakai, en akatastasiai, en kopoi, en agrupniai, …in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights …
2 Corinthians 11:23… huper mis; en kopoi perissoterōs, en fulakai perissoterōs, en plēgai huperballontōs, en thanatoi …… more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger …