Band

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Σπεῖρα (Strong'S #4686 — Noun Feminine — speira — spi'-rah )

primarily "anything round," and so "whatever might be wrapped round a thing, a twisted rope," came to mean "a body of men at arms," and was the equivalent of the Roman manipulus. It was also used for a larger body of men, a cohort, about 600 infantry, commanded by a tribune. It is confined to its military sense. See, e.g.,  Matthew 27:27 , and corresponding passages.

2: Δεσμός (Strong'S #1199 — Noun Masculine — desmos — des-mon', des-mos' )

"a band, fetter, anything for tying" (from deo, "to bind, fasten with chains, etc."), is sometimes translated "band," sometimes "bond;" "bands," in  Luke 8:29;  Acts 16:26;  22:30 , AV only. In the case of the deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, whom the Lord took aside,  Mark 7:35 , the AV says "the string of his tongue was loosed;" the RV, more literally, "the bond of his tongue." See Bond , Chain , String.

3: Σύνδεσμος (Strong'S #4886 — Noun Masculine — sundesmos — soon'-des-mos )

an intensive form of No. 2, denoting "that which binds firmly together," is used metaphorically of the joints and bands of the mystic body of Christ,  Colossians 2:19; otherwise in the following phrases, "the bond of iniquity,"  Acts 8:23; "the bond of peace,"  Ephesians 4:3; "the bond of perfectness,"  Colossians 3:14 . See Bond.

4: Ζευκτηρία (Strong'S #2202 — Noun Feminine — zeukteria — dzyook-tay-ree'-ah )

"a bond" (connected with zugos, "a yoke"), is found once, of the rudder band of a ship,  Acts 27:40 .

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BAND . This spelling represents three historically distinct English words: (1) ‘Band’ in the sense of that which binds the rendering of a variety of Heb. words, some of which are also rendered by ‘bond.’ (2) ‘Band’ in the sense of ribbon (  Exodus 39:23 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘binding’), or sash (  Exodus 28:8 etc. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘girdle’). (3) ‘Band’ in the sense of a company of soldiers, more or less organized, as the rendering of several Heb. words, some of there ranged in RV [Note: Revised Version.] into ‘companies’ (  Genesis 32:7 ) or ‘troop’ (  1 Kings 11:24 ) or ‘hordes’ (  Ezekiel 38:6;   Ezekiel 38:9 ).

In NT ‘band’ in this third sense renders speira , the Gr. equivalent of the Roman cohors (for the Roman army in NT times see Legion). In the minor provinces such as Judæa the troops were entirely auxiliaries, of which the unit was the cohort of about 500, in certain cases 1000, men. The Roman garrison in Jerusalem consisted of such a cohort of provincials, probably 1000 strong, the ‘band’ which figures prominently both in the Gospels and in the Acts (  Matthew 27:27 ,   Mark 15:16 ,   Acts 21:31 , and probably   John 18:3;   John 18:12 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘cohort’ throughout). This cohort was under the command of a Roman prefect or of a military tribune, the ‘captain’ or ‘chief captain’ (Gr. chiliarch) of our EV [Note: English Version.] .

Another auxiliary cohort is probably that named the Augustan band (  Acts 27:1 Gr. Sebaste  ; AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘Augustus’ band’). It has been much debated whether the name is a title of honour like our ‘King’s Own,’ or a territorial designation signifying that the cohort in question was recruited from Samaria, then named Sebaste (= Augusta). Schürer ( GJ V 3 i. 462) curiously would combine both these views. Ramsay, on the other hand, maintains that the Augustan band was a popular, not an official, name for a body of troops detailed for some special service by the emperor ( St. Paul the Traveller , p. 315). A similar uncertainty as to its place in the military organization of the time attaches to the Italian band in which Cornelius was a centurion (  Acts 10:1 ). The name merely shows that it was a cohort of Roman citizens, probably volunteers, from Italy, as opposed to the ordinary cohorts of provincials.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

BAND. —A Roman legion, the full strength of which was about 6000 men, was divided into ten cohorts (600), and each cohort into three maniples (200). Greek writers use the word σπεῖρα, rendered ‘band’ in our versions, sometimes for maniple but usually for cohort  ; hence (Revised Version margin) has regularly ‘cohort.’ The troops in Judaea, however, as in other provinces governed by a procurator, consisted simply of auxiliaries, not Roman citizens, but provincials; these were not formed into legions, but merely into cohorts, of strength varying from 500 to 1000, sometimes consisting purely of infantry, sometimes including cavalry also. The forces in Palestine seem to have been originally Herod’s troops, taken over by the Romans; they were recruited in the Greek cities in or around the country, such as Caesarea, Ascalon, Sebaste. One such cohort formed the garrison of Jerusalem, stationed in the fortress of Antonia, adjoining the Temple, under a chiliarch or tribune (‘the chief captain of the band,’  Acts 21:31). From the account of the force at the disposal of Lysias ( Acts 23:23), his cohort must have been a cohors miliaria equestris , consisting of 760 infantry and 240 cavalry; but this may not have been the case in our Lord’s time, some 30 years earlier. This Roman force was probably granted by Pilate to effect our Lord’s arrest ( John 18:3;  John 18:12, where ‘the band’ under its ‘chief captain’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885] seems distinguished from ‘the officers of the Jews,’ i.e. the Temple police; see Westcott, ad loc. ). Of course, only a portion of the whole cohort would be needed. In  Matthew 27:27 ||  Mark 15:16, the soldiers gather together ‘the whole band’ to mock our Lord; obviously all who were at hand and not on duty.

Literature.—Grimm-Thayer, s.v. στεῖρα; Schürer, HJ P [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] i. ii. 49–56; Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung (1884), ii. 468 ff., 534 ff.

Harold Smith.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of color, or of brickwork, etc.

(2): (v. t.) In Gothic architecture, the molding, or suite of moldings, which encircles the pillars and small shafts.

(3): (v. t.) That which serves as the means of union or connection between persons; a tie.

(4): (v. t.) A linen collar or ruff worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

(5): (v. t.) Two strips of linen hanging from the neck in front as part of a clerical, legal, or academic dress.

(6): (v. t.) A fillet, strap, or any narrow ligament with which a thing is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter.

(7): (v. t.) A narrow strip of cloth or other material on any article of dress, to bind, strengthen, ornament, or complete it.

(8): (v. t.) A company of persons united in any common design, especially a body of armed men.

(9): (v. t.) A number of musicians who play together upon portable musical instruments, especially those making a loud sound, as certain wind instruments (trumpets, clarinets, etc.), and drums, or cymbals.

(10): (v. t.) A space between elevated lines or ribs, as of the fruits of umbelliferous plants.

(11): (v. t.) A stripe, streak, or other mark transverse to the axis of the body.

(12): (v. t.) A belt or strap.

(13): (v. t.) A bond

(14): imp. of Bind.

(15): (v. i.) To confederate for some common purpose; to unite; to conspire together.

(16): (v. t.) Pledge; security.

(17): (v. t.) To bandy; to drive away.

(18): (v. t.) To bind or tie with a band.

(19): (v. t.) To mark with a band.

(20): (v. t.) To unite in a troop, company, or confederacy.

King James Dictionary

BAND, n.See Bind and Bend.

1. A fillet a cord a tie a chain any narrow ligament with which a thing is bound, tied or fastened, or by which a number of things are confined together. 2. In architecture, any flat low member of molding, broad but not deep, called also fascia, face or plinth. 3. Figuratively, any chain any means of restraint that which draws or confines. 4. Means of union or connection between persons as, Hymen's bands. 5. Any thing bound round or encircling another. 6. Something worn about the neck as the bands of clergymen. 7. A company of soldiers the body of men united under one flag or ensign. Also, indefinitely, a troop, a body of armed men.

 2 Kings 6

8. A company of persons united in any common design as a band of brothers. 9. A slip of canvas, sewed across a sail to strengthen it.

The band of pensioners in England, is a company of 120 gentlemen, who receive a yearly allowance of f100st., for attending the king on solemn occasions.

The bands of a saddle are two pieces of iron nailed upon the bows, to hold them in their proper situation.

BAND, To bind together to bind over with a band.

2. To unite in a troop, company or confederacy.

BAND, To unite to associate to confederate for some common purpose.  Acts 23

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Band. The "band of Roman soldiers" referred to in  Matthew 27:27, and elsewhere, was the tenth part of a legion. It was called a "cohort," and numbered 400 to 600 men. See Army .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Band. A band of Roman soldiers consisted of the tenth part of a legion, called a "cohort;" it varied, according to the size of the legion, from 400 to 600 soldiers.  Matthew 27:27;  Acts 21:31, and elsewhere.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Matthew 27:27 Mark 15:16Battalion

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

the representative of several Hebrews and Gr. words, and in the N.T. especially of Σπεῖρα , a COHORT (See Cohort) (q- v.).

a part of clerical dress, said to be a relic of the ancient amice (q.v.). It belongs to the full dress of the bar and university in England. "In Scotland it distinguishes ordained ministers from licentiates or probationers, and is said to be a remnant of the old cravat worn universally by the clergy a hundred years ago." — (Eadie.) It is worn in the Church of England, in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and by the Protestant ministers of the Continental churches of Europe generally. (See Clergy), Dress Of The.

(figuratively used). Government and laws are bands that restrain from sin and draw into the path of righteousness ( Psalms 2:3;  Jeremiah 5:5). Slavery, distress, fears, and perplexity are called bands because they restrain liberty, and create irritation ( Leviticus 26:13;  Ezekiel 34:27; Psalm 28:22). Sinful customs or meretricious allurements are bands; they enslave, weaken, degrade, and embitter the soul; they are fetters that at first may seem soft as silk, but are found at last to be stronger than iron ( Isaiah 58:6;  Ecclesiastes 7:26). The wicked often "have no bands in their death;" that is, they frequently die without any peculiar distress, fear, or perplexity, such as might be expected to stamp their real character and condition on the verge of their future woe ( Psalms 73:4;  Ecclesiastes 7:15;  Ecclesiastes 9:2). Faith and love are bands which unite and fasten every believer to Christ, and to the whole body of his holy people ( Colossians 2:19). The authority, arguments, instances, and influence of divine love, because they draw and engage us to follow the Lord in a way suited to our rational nature, are generally supposed to be intended in  Hosea 11:4 by "the bands of a man."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The English word has two generic meanings, each shading off into several specific meanings: (1) that which holds together, binds or encircles: a bond; (2) a company of men. The second sense may philologically and logically have been derived from the first, men being held together by social ties. Both meanings appear in Old Testament and New Testament representing various Hebrew and Greek words.

(1) A band ( a ) (אסוּר , 'ēc̣ūr ): a flaxen rope ( Judges 15:14 ); a band of iron and brass ( Daniel 4:15 ,  Daniel 4:23 ); metaphorically used of a false woman's hands (  Ecclesiastes 7:26 ). ( b ) (חבל , ḥebhel ): "The bands of the wicked have robbed me" (the King James Version of  Psalm 119:61 ), where "bands" = "troops" by mistr; the Revised Version (British and American) "The cords of the wicked have wrapped me round"; plural ḥobhlim = "bands" = the name of the prophet's symbolic staff representing the brotherhood between Judah and Israel ( Zechariah 11:7 ,  Zechariah 11:14 ). ( c ) (עבת , ‛ăbhōth ): "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love" ( Hosea 11:4; compare  Ezekiel 3:25;  Ezekiel 4:8;  Job 39:10 ). ( d ) (שפה , sāphāh ): the edge of the round opening in the robe of the ephod with a band (the Revised Version (British and American) "binding") round about the hole of it (only in  Exodus 39:23 ). ( e ) (חרצבּות , ḥarcǔbbōth ): bands (the Revised Version (British and American) "bonds") of wickedness ( Isaiah 58:6 ); bands (= pains) in death ( Psalm 73:4 ); the Revised Version, margin ("pangs," Cheyne, "torments"). ( f ) (מוטה , mōṭāh ): the cross bar of oxen's yoke, holding them together ( Leviticus 26:13;  Ezekiel 34:27 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) "bars"). ( g ) (מוסר , mōṣēr ): a fetter: "Who hath loosed the bonds of the swift ass?" ( Job 39:5;  Psalm 2:3;  Psalm 107:14;  Isaiah 28:22;  Isaiah 52:2;  Jeremiah 2:20; all in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)). The same Hebrew word (in  Psalm 116:16;  Jeremiah 5:5;  Jeremiah 27:2;  Jeremiah 30:8;  Nahum 1:13 ) is translated "bonds" in the King James Version, and in the English Revised Version of  Psalm 116:16 , and  Nahum 1:13 , but "bands" in the English Revised Version of  Jeremiah 5:5;  Jeremiah 27:2;  Jeremiah 30:8; the American Standard Revised Version has "bonds" throughout. See Bond . ( h ) (מושׁכות , mōshekhōth ): "Canst thou ... loose the bands of Orion?" (only in  Job 38:31 ). ( i ) (δεσμός , desmós , σύνδεσμος , súndesmos ): a fetter: that which binds together: of the chains of a lunatic or prisoner ( Luke 8:29;  Acts 16:26;  Acts 22:30 the King James Version), metaphorically of the mystic union of Christ and the church (  Colossians 2:19 ). These words are often translated by "bond" in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American). ( j ) (ζευκτηρία , zeuktērı́a ): the rudder's bands (only in  Acts 27:40 ).

(2) A company of men ( a ) (גּדוּד , gedhūdh ): a band of soldiers ( 2 Samuel 4:2;  1 Kings 11:24 , the King James Version;  2 Kings 6:23;  2 Kings 13:20 ,  2 Kings 13:21;  2 Kings 24:2;  1 Chronicles 7:4;  1 Chronicles 12:18 ,  1 Chronicles 12:21;  2 Chronicles 22:1 ). So the Revised Version (British and American) (except in  1 Kings 11:24 , "troop"). ( b ) (ראש , rō'sh ): "head" = "division": "The Chaldeans made three bands" ( Job 1:17 );  1 Chronicles 12:23 the Revised Version (British and American) translates "heads." ( c ) (חיל , ḥayil ): "a band of men" the Revised Version (British and American) the "host" (only in  1 Samuel 10:26 ). ( d ) (אגפים , 'ăghappı̄m ): "the wings of an army," only in Ezekiel, armies of the King of Judah ( Ezekiel 12:14;  Ezekiel 17:21 ); of Gomer and of Togarmah ( Ezekiel 38:6 ); of Gog (the Revised Version (British and American) "hordes") ( Ezekiel 38:9 ,  Ezekiel 38:22;  Ezekiel 39:4 ). ( e ) (מחנה , maḥăneh ): "camp": only in  Genesis 32:7 ,  Genesis 32:10; the Revised Version (British and American) "companies." ( f ) (חצץ , ḥocec ): of locusts dividing into companies or swarms ( Proverbs 30:27 ). ( g ) (σπεῖρα , speı́ra ): usually a "cohort" (see the Revised Version, margin) of Roman soldiers; the tenth part of a legion, about 600 men: ( Matthew 27:27;  Mark 15:16;  Acts 10:1;  Acts 21:31;  Acts 27:1 ). A smaller detachment of soldiers ( John 18:3 ,  John 18:12; compare 2 Macc 8:23; Judith 1:4:11). ( h ) (ποιεῖν συστροφήν , poieı́n sustrophḗn ): "to make a conspiracy": "The Jews banded together" ( Acts 23:12 ).

(3) The Augustan Band (σπεῖρα Σεβαστή , speı́ra Sebastḗ ) to which Julius, the Roman centurion who had charge of Paul as a prisoner on his voyage to Rome, belonged, was a cohort apparently stationed at Caesarea at the time ( Acts 27:1 ). Schürer ( GJV , I3, 461 f) is of opinion that it was one of five cohorts mentioned by Josephus, recruited in Samaria and called Sebastenes from the Greek name of the city of Samaria (Sebaste). This particular cohort had in all likelihood for its full name Cohors Augusta Sebastenorum , Augusta being an honorific title of which examples are found in the case of auxiliary troops. Sir William Ramsay, following Mommsen ( St. Paul the Traveler , 315, 348), thinks it denotes a body of legionary centurions, selected from legions serving abroad, who were employed by the emperor on confidential business between the provinces and Rome, the title Augustan being conferred upon them as a mark of favor and distinction. The grounds on which the views of Mommsen and Ramsay rest are questioned by Professor Zahn ( Introduction to the New Testament , I, 551ff), and more evidence is needed to establish them. See Army , Roman .

(4) The Italian Band ( σπεῖρα ἰταλική , speı́ra Italikḗ ) was a cohort composed of volunteer Roman citizens born in Italy and stationed at Caesarea at this time ( Acts 10:1 ). Schürer maintains that there could have been no Roman cohort there at this time, although he accepts the testimony of inscriptions to the presence of an Italian cohort at a later time. He accordingly rejects the story of Cornelius, holding that the author of the Acts has given in this narrative conditions belonging to a later time ( GJV , I3, 462 f). In reply to Schürer, Blass asks why one of the five cohorts mentioned by Josephus may not have been composed of Roman citizens living at Caesarea or Sebaste, and bearing this name (Blass, Acta Apostolorum , 124). From a recently discovered inscription, Sir W. M. Ramsay has ascertained that there was an Italian cohort stationed in Syria in 69 ad, which heightens the probability of one actually being found in Caesarea at 41-44 ad, and he shows that even if his cohort was at the time on duty elsewhere a centurion like Cornelius might well have been at Caesarea at the time mentioned ( Expositor , 5th series, IV, V, with Schürer's rejoinder). The subject of detached service in the provinces of the Roman Empire is admittedly obscure, but nothing emerges in this discussion to cast doubt upon the historical character of Luke's narrative. See Army , Roman .

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