desmos (chain) · Rightly

Meaning

Usually translated “chains”, “band” and “bond”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.

How it's translated

chains 12
of chains 3
band 1
bond 1
in chains 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most

Acts 6
Philippians 3
Luke 2
Philemon 2
Mark 1
Colossians 1

9 books in all.

Related words

Explore in Scripture

Philemon 1:13In contextWhom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
Jude 1:6In contextAnd the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Mark 7:35And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
Luke 8:29(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
Luke 13:16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
Acts 16:26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

All 18 verses, by book

Mark 1: 7:35
Luke 2: 8:29 13:16
Acts 6: 16:26 20:23 22:30 23:29 26:29 26:31
Philippians 3: 1:7 1:13 1:14
Colossians 1: 4:18
2 Timothy 1: 2:9
Philemon 2: 1:10 1:13
Hebrews 1: 11:36
Jude 1: 1:6

Greek dictionary

δεσμός desmos · chain

δεσμός, -οῦ, ὁ (δέω), [in LXX chiefly for אסר ;] a band, bond: metaphorically, Luk.13:16; ὁ δεσμὸς τ. γλώσσης, Mrk.7:35 (for this expression in π., see Deiss., LAE, 306 ff.; of actual bonds, see Ruth., Gr., 9). Pl., δεσμοί, Php.1:13; δεσμά (as also in cl.), Luk.8:29, Act.16:26 20:23; genitive, dative, Act.23:29 26:29, 31, Php.1:7, 14, 17, Col.4:18, 2Ti.2:9, Phm 10, Heb.11:36, Ju 6; ἐν τοῖς δ. τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Phm 13.† (AS)

From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “chain” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

CHAIN, noun

A series of links or rings connected, or fitted into one another, usually made of some kind of metal, as a chain of gold, or of iron; but the word is not restricted to any particular kind of material.
That which binds; a real chain; that which restrains, confines, or fetters; a bond.“If God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them into chains of darkness” 2 Peter 2:4
Bondage; affliction.“He hath made my chain heavy” Lamentations 3:7
Bondage; slavery.

All definitions and other forms of “chain”

Ornament. Proverbs 1:9
A series of things linked together; a series of things connected or following in succession; as a chain of causes, of ideas, or events; a chain of being.
A range, or line of things connected, as a chain of mountains.
A series of links, forming an instrument to measure land.
A string of twisted wire, or something similar, to hang a watch on, and for other purposes.
In France, a measure of wood for fuel, and various commodities, of various length.
In ship-building, chains are strong links or plates of iron, bolted at the lower end to the ships side, used to contain the blocks called dead eyes, by which the shrouds of the mast are extended.
The warp in weaving, as in French.

CHAIN, verb transitive

To fasten, bind or connect with a chain; to fasten or bind with any thing in the manner of a chain
To enslave; to keep in slavery.
To guard with a chain as a harbor or passage.
To unite; to form chain-work.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.