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DUNGEON

A dark, small room, usually underground, used as a prison. The Hebrew word for “dungeon” (mas·gerʹ) comes from a root meaning “shut; close.” (Ge 19:6; Jg 3:23) David felt as though he were in a dungeon at the time he was hiding in a cave as an outlaw refugee from King Saul. His circumstances looked very dark, his life was constantly in danger, traps were in his pathway, and there was no other place to flee. He prayed to Jehovah for liberation. (Ps 142:7) Isaiah uses the term symbolically in two places: (1) In connection with Jehovah’s giving attention to “the army of the height” (possibly meaning the disobedient angels) and “the kings of the ground,” the prophet states that they will “be shut up in the dungeon” and given attention “after an abundance of days,” perhaps alluding to the temporary release of the disobedient angels. (Isa 24:21, 22; compare Re 20:1-3.) (2) At Isaiah 42:7, the prophet refers to the dungeon when foretelling a liberation from spiritual darkness and imprisonment. The aged Simeon, under inspiration, applied the latter prophecy to those to whom Jesus Christ would bring the light of truth.​—Lu 2:25-32; see PRISON.