Understanding the Significance of Deo in Greek

δέω expresses the act of binding, whether by restraint, confinement, securing an object in place, or gathering things together for disposal. In the passages quoted here it appears in scenes of arrest, parable imagery, practical instruction, and sayings about earthly actions that correspond with heaven.

Occurrences

Matthew 12:29: “Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.”

Here δέω marks the necessary first step that makes plundering possible. The “strong man” must be restrained before his “house” can be entered and his “goods” taken; binding functions as the decisive disabling of resistance.

Matthew 13:30: “Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

In this harvest instruction, δέω describes a deliberate bundling action done to the weeds after they are gathered. The binding is preparatory and practical: it organizes the darnel into manageable units “to burn,” contrasting with the wheat’s different destination (“into my barn”).

Matthew 14:3: “For Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.”

δέω appears as part of a sequence of coercive actions: arrest, binding, imprisonment. Binding is the physical restraint accompanying John’s removal from public space into confinement, tied in the narrative to Herod’s domestic situation (“for the sake of Herodias”).

Matthew 16:19: “I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

In this saying, δέω is paired with “release,” and the binding is framed as an earthly act whose result is described as already established in heaven (“will have been bound in heaven”). Binding here is not depicted with ropes or chains, but as an authoritative action correlated between “on earth” and “in heaven,” with “keys” as the immediate metaphor for access and authority.

Matthew 18:18: “Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

This repeats the earth–heaven correspondence with δέω, now addressed in the plural scope of “whatever things.” The emphasis falls on the reach of the act (“whatever things”) and on the fixed heavenly counterpart (“will have been bound in heaven”), again contrasted with “release.”

Matthew 21:2: “saying to them, “Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me.”

δέω is expressed in the state of being “tied,” describing how the animals are secured in place. The command “Untie them” depends on that initial condition: binding is ordinary and reversible, a practical fastening that controls movement until they are brought.

Matthew 22:13: “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’”

Here δέω is intensified by the explicit manner: “hand and foot.” Binding is part of a forceful removal (“take him away”) and expulsion (“throw him into the outer darkness”), underscoring restraint and powerlessness as the person is carried from the king’s presence to a place of punishment described in stark sensory terms.

Matthew 27:2: “and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.”

δέω marks the custody of Jesus as he is transferred. Binding precedes escort (“led him away”) and formal handover (“delivered him up”), presenting restraint as the physical sign of being under another’s control during legal-political proceedings.

Mark 3:27: “But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house.”

As in the parallel saying, δέω is the prerequisite for taking goods from a “strong man.” Binding is portrayed as the act that neutralizes the strong man’s ability to prevent intrusion, making the later plundering possible.

Mark 5:3: “He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,”

δέω is used to portray failed restraint: the man’s condition is such that binding has become ineffective (“could bind him any more”). The mention of “chains” places the binding attempt in the realm of strong physical measures, yet the scene highlights their inadequacy.

Mark 5:4: “because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.”

This verse expands the picture: δέω had been applied “often,” using “fetters and chains,” but the restraints are repeatedly destroyed. Binding is depicted as an attempted control that the man violently overcomes, culminating in the conclusion that “Nobody had the strength to tame him,” where the broken bindings serve as concrete evidence of untamed power.

Mark 6:17: “For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.”

δέω again describes John’s restraint in a prison setting, now with fuller explanation of the relational motive (“for he had married her”). Binding belongs to the machinery of arrest and detention, carried out by Herod’s initiative (“Herod himself had sent out”).

Sense and Usage

Across these passages δέω consistently depicts binding as an act that limits movement or freedom. Sometimes the restraint is straightforwardly physical: John is bound and put in prison (Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17), Jesus is bound for transfer to Pilate (Matthew 27:2), and a condemned man is bound “hand and foot” prior to being removed and cast out (Matthew 22:13). In such scenes, binding functions as the visible mechanism of custody: it turns a person into someone who can be led, taken, and delivered by others.

δέω can also describe securing rather than imprisoning. The donkey and colt are “tied,” a common act that keeps animals in place until they are needed, and “Untie them” implies that the binding is temporary and purposeful (Matthew 21:2). A similar practicality appears in the harvest instruction: weeds are bound “in bundles,” not to immobilize an enemy but to organize gathered plants for burning (Matthew 13:30). In these uses, binding is a way of controlling or arranging objects so they can be moved or disposed of efficiently.

Several sayings portray binding as the decisive action that enables a larger outcome. In the “strong man” image (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27), binding is the turning point between inability and success: without binding, plundering cannot happen; with binding, the house can be plundered. The image depends on the logic that restraint removes effective opposition.

Mark 5:3–4 offers a contrasting perspective by stressing the failure of binding. Chains and fetters represent attempts at restraint, yet the man repeatedly breaks them; the verbs of tearing apart and breaking in pieces emphasize that the binding materials are no match for him. δέω thus helps draw the line between what a community typically does to manage danger and what, in this case, proves beyond ordinary control.

Finally, in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 binding moves into the realm of declarative action paired with “release,” still described with the same verb. The imagery of “keys” and the repeated earth/heaven correspondence frame binding as something done “on earth” with an outcome that stands in heaven. Even without physical ties described, the verb’s force remains: binding is an act that fixes a state in place, set over against releasing, which loosens or frees.

Imagery

The passages cluster around vivid pictures: a restrained “strong man” enabling plunder (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27), weeds tied into burnable bundles (Matthew 13:30), prisoners bound for confinement or transfer (Matthew 14:3; Matthew 27:2; Mark 6:17), a man bound “hand and foot” for removal (Matthew 22:13), animals tied and then untied (Matthew 21:2), and shattered chains that testify to restraint’s limits (Mark 5:3–4). Together these scenes use binding to depict control—sometimes effective, sometimes overturned—and to show how restraint, arrangement, and authoritative fixing of a situation can shape what happens next.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).