G5438Greekphylakῇ
φυλακῇ
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
46
Total Occurrences
9
Books
0
Old Testament
46
New Testament
Detailed Definition
- 1guard, watch
- 2a watching, keeping watch
- 3persons keeping watch, a guard, sentinels
- 4of the place where captives are kept, a prison
- 5of the time (of night) during which guard was kept, a watch i.e., a period of time during which part of the guard was on duty, and at the end of which others relieved them
Etymology & Derivation
from g5442
Scholarly Notes
as the earlier greeks divided the night commonly into three parts, so, previous to the exile, the israelites also had three watches in a night; subsequently, however, after they became subject to rome, they adopted the roman custom of dividing the night into four watches.