H2856 — חָתַם (châtham)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2856
Original: חָתַם
Transliteration: châtham
Pronunciation: khaw-tham'
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Primitive root
Occurrences: 26 tokens, 24 unique verses, 11 books
First Occurrence: Lev 15:3 — "whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to close up; especially to seal: — make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	22	to seal, to close up (basic action)
Niphal	2	to be sealed (passive: the thing is sealed)
Piel	1	to mark (Job 24:16 — intensive, marking a house for entry)
Hiphil	1	to stop, cause to close up (Lev 15:3 — bodily discharge)

Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma "חתם". Dan 6:18 (peal) is Aramaic H2857, excluded.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
seal / sealed (various phrases)	18	75%
sealed up	2	8%
seal up / to seal up	2	8%
be stopped	1	4%
they had marked	1	4%

Most translations are phrase-level variants of "seal/sealed"; consolidated above.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Esther	3	1.8
Daniel	3	0.8
Job	5	0.5
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Jeremiah	4	0.3
Isaiah	2	0.2
Leviticus	1	0.1
Deuteronomy	1	0.1
1 Kings	1	0.1
Ezekiel	1	0.1
Song of Solomon	1	0.1

Concentrated in legal/administrative contexts (Esther, Nehemiah, Jeremiah) and wisdom/prophetic literature (Job, Daniel, Isaiah). Highest density in Esther — sealing royal edicts with the king's ring.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Legal and Documentary Sealing¶

Authenticating official letters, deeds, and covenants by impressing a signet ring — the act that made a document binding and tamper-evident. - 1 Kgs 21:8 — "she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders" - Jer 32:10 — "I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money" - Est 8:10 — "he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts" - Neh 9:38 — "we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it"

2. Divine Sealing of Hidden Things¶

God as agent sealing what is kept in reserve — transgressions, treasures, and natural phenomena — inaccessible until his appointed purpose. - Deut 32:34 — "Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?" - Job 14:17 — "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity" - Job 9:7 — "Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars" - Job 37:7 — "He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work"

3. Prophetic Sealing of Revelation¶

Sealing a vision or book to preserve it until the time of fulfillment; the sealed content is inaccessible until the end. - Isa 8:16 — "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples" - Isa 29:11 — "the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed" - Dan 9:24 — "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins...and to seal up the vision and prophecy" - Dan 12:4 — "shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end"

4. Closure and Enclosure¶

The basic physical sense: stopping a flow or enclosing something completely. - Lev 15:3 — "whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped (Hiphil) from his issue" (closing a bodily discharge) - Song 4:12 — "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" - Ezek 28:12 — "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" (the king as perfect pattern/exemplar)

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
סֵפֶר (sepher)	H5612	8x (33%)	Seal a written document — "seal the book/letter"
כָּתַב (kathab)	H3789	7x (29%)	Write then seal — "subscribed the evidence, and sealed it"
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	4x (17%)	Royal authentication — "in the king's name...sealed with the king's ring"
שֵׁם (shem)	H8034	4x (17%)	Name as identity on seal — "wrote in king's name and sealed"
גָּלָה (galah)	H1540	3x (12%)	Revealing vs. sealing — sealed visions that will be opened/revealed
טַבַּעַת (tabba'ath)	H2885	3x (12%)	Instrument of sealing — "sealed with the king's ring (tabba'ath)"
דָנִיֵּאל (Daniyye'l)	H1840	2x (8%)	Prophetic sealing commands (Dan 12:4, 12:9)

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2368 חוֹתָם (chowtham) — noun: the seal or signet ring (the instrument used to seal); 3 OT occurrences
H2857 חֲתַם (chatham, Aram.) — Aramaic cognate: to seal; 1 occurrence (Dan 6:18 — the lion's den stone)

Synonyms¶

H3647 כמס — returned by search_relationships.py as a nearby term in the field of closing / sealing.
H2950 טפל — surfaced by search_relationships.py as another neighboring term in the same broad closure field.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H2856.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
חוֹתָם (chowtham)	H2368	both → "seal" in KJV	H2856 is the verbal action; H2368 is the noun instrument (the signet ring itself)
σφραγίζω (sphragizō)	G4972	both → "seal/sealed"	NT Greek functional equivalent; extends OT sealing into Spirit-sealing (Eph 1:13; 4:30)
σφραγίς (sphragis)	G4973	both → "seal"	NT noun for the seal/signet; corresponds to H2368 more closely than H2856

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002003001001] Attach — search_relationships.py groups châtham with attachment language, alongside H707 ארג, H1487 גּוּשׁ, A1693/H1692 דבק, H1694 דֶּבֶק, and H1695 דָּבֵק.
[002001001013] Close — the clearest match for the root's basic sense, with neighbors such as H1443 גדר, H1479 גוף, H2902 טחח, H5274 נעל, and A5463/H5462 סגר.
[002002001010] Hide — the same relationship data links châtham to concealment vocabulary, including H693 ארב, H2244 חבא, H2247 חבה, H2620 חסה, and H2622 חָסוּת.
[002001001061] Unable — a secondary field associating closure with being shut off or hindered, with neighbors such as H334 אִטֵּר, H481/H483 אלם, H1208 בָּצוּר, H1219 בצר, and H1565 גַּלְמוּד.
[002004002007] Know — search_relationships.py also places châtham near markers / signs of recognition, including H183/H184 אוה, H226 אֹות, H262/H264 אַחֲוָה, and H502 אלף.
[002001003018] True — the tool links sealing with confirmation / attestation vocabulary, including H539/H540 אמן, H974 בחן, H3027 יָד, A3330 יַצִּיב, and H3559 כון.
[002003003015] Innocent — another secondary association groups châtham with purity / innocence language, including H935 בוא, H1252/H1253 בֹּר, H1305 ברר, and H1460 גֵּו.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
σφραγίζω (sphragizō) G4972	15x	9.53	Primary LXX equivalent — direct verbal rendering
βιβλίον (biblion) G975	7x	5.52	Collocation artifact: book/scroll in sealing contexts
γράφω (graphō) G1125	7x	5.09	Collocation artifact: write-and-seal pattern

σφραγίζω is the clear primary LXX rendering (PMI 9.53). The βιβλίον and γράφω co-occurrences reflect the frequent write-then-seal document pattern, not alternate renderings of H2856.