Rope and cord

Items normally used in domestic and military situations, but also used in Scripture in a symbolic sense to refer to bondage or constraint.

Various uses for rope and cord

In clothes and furnishing

Exodus 28:28, Exodus 28:37; Numbers 15:38; 1 Kings 20:31; Esther 1:6; Ezekiel 27:24

For tents

Exodus 35:18, Exodus 39:40; Numbers 3:37, Numbers 4:32; Isaiah 54:2

In sailing

Acts 27:17, Acts 27:32, Acts 27:40

In military use

2 Samuel 17:13; Psalm 7:12, Psalm 11:2; Jeremiah 51:3

For rescue and escape

Joshua 2:15; 1 Samuel 19:12; Jeremiah 38:6, Jeremiah 38:13; Acts 9:25; 2 Corinthians 11:33

To restrain animals

Job 39:5, Job 41:1–2; Psalm 32:9; Matthew 21:2 parallels Mark 11:2, Luke 19:30

To restrain people

Judges 15:13–14; Ezekiel 3:25, Ezekiel 4:8; Matthew 14:3 parallel Mark 6:17

Rope and cord as symbols of bondage

Of evil

Proverbs 5:22 See also Psalm 129:4, Psalm 140:5; Isaiah 5:18, Isaiah 58:6; Romans 7:6

The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.

Of suffering

Luke 13:16 See also Job 16:8, Job 36:8; Psalm 119:61; Daniel 3:21; Matthew 14:3 parallel Mark 6:17; Mark 15:1; John 18:12, John 18:24

Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”

Of death

Psalm 18:4–5 parallel 2 Samuel 22:6 See also Psalm 116:3

The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Rope and cord as symbols of spiritual and emotional ties

Symbols of loving relationships

Hosea 11:4 See also Ecclesiastes 4:12; Jeremiah 10:20; Romans 7:2

I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

Symbols of obedience

Proverbs 7:2–3 See also Deuteronomy 6:8, Deuteronomy 11:18; Proverbs 3:3, Proverbs 6:20–21

Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Symbols of life

Ecclesiastes 12:6 See also Psalm 16:6

Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well,