Meaning
Dungeon different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a place of punishment. Like the Roman inner prison (Acts 16:24), it consisted of a deep cell or cistern (Jer 38:6). To be shut up in, a punishment common in Egypt (Gen 39:20; 40:3; 41:10; 42:19). It is not mentioned, however, in the law of Moses as a mode of punishment. Under the later kings imprisonment was frequently used as a punishment (2Chron 16:10; Jer 20:2; 32:2; 33:1; 37:15), and it was customary after the Exile (Matt 11:2; Luke 3:20; Acts 5:18, 21; Matt 18:30).
