Ward

Ward in the King James Bible translates several distinct Hebrew and Greek terms, all denoting confinement or watchful custody. As a prison or place of detention, it appears in Genesis 40:3–4, where Pharaoh puts his chief butler and baker "in ward" in the house of the captain of the guard — the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. In Isaiah 21:8, the word means a watch-post or station: the watchman cries that he stands continually on his ward (his post). In Nehemiah 13:30, it refers to the assigned watches (guard duties) of the priests and Levites. The concept of ward thus spans confinement imposed on prisoners and the vigilant duty of watchmen — two meanings united by the idea of close attention and boundary-keeping.