StrongerBible

satam

סָתַם

HebrewH5640“stop up, shut up, ...”

Appears 14 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 26:15Gen 26:182Ki 3:192Ki 3:252Ch 32:32Ch 32:42Ch 32:30Neh 4:7(1)Psa 51:6(8)Lam 3:8Ezk 28:3Dan 8:26Dan 12:4Dan 12:9
Word studyResearch-gradesah-TAHMverb

What satam means

to close something off so that nothing can get through it, and so make it inaccessible: from stopping up a well to sealing a message shut

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its root this verb means to close an opening so completely that nothing passes through it any longer. In the narrative books it is a hands-on, physical act: the Philistines fill in Abraham's wells with dirt (Genesis 26), Israel's soldiers block the springs of Moab in wartime (2 Kings 3), and Hezekiah closes the outlet of a spring to reroute its water into Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32). One detail runs through every case: the word never means to destroy. A stopped well can be dug out again, a blocked spring rerouted, a breached wall filled back in. The point is not ruin but sealing off access.

From there the same picture is applied to things you cannot touch. A sufferer says God has shut off his prayer as if plugging a pipe so it cannot reach him (Lamentations 3); a psalmist speaks of the closed-off inner place where God teaches wisdom (Psalm 51). The physical image is still there underneath, but now the thing being closed is a flow or an inner space rather than a hole in the ground.

At its furthest reach, in Daniel, the word closes off a message. Daniel is told to shut up the vision and shut up the words until the appointed time. The revelation is real and true, but it is kept closed, its meaning held back until the end, when the right readers will finally open it. The same idea of closing off to make something inaccessible carries the word all the way from a plugged well to a sealed prophecy.

Nuances

1ato stop up or block a physical opening (a well, a spring, a gap in a wall) by filling it in, so nothing can pass through
Gen 26:15Gen 26:182Ki 3:192Ki 3:252Ch 32:32Ch 32:42Ch 32:30Neh 4:7(1)
1bto shut off something that cannot be touched, such as a prayer that cannot get through or a closed-off inner space
Psa 51:6(8)Lam 3:8
1cto keep a message or piece of knowledge shut up and sealed, holding its meaning back until the right time
Ezk 28:3Dan 8:26Dan 12:4Dan 12:9
Dan 12:4

What it means to shut up the words in the sealing commands of Daniel (8:26; 12:4, 9): whether the verb describes preserving the book physically sealed until the appointed time, or making its meaning cognitively inaccessible until the qualified community can interpret it.

  • contestedThe words are shut up because the scroll is sealed as a legal document and stored away, unavailable until the end; the imperative frames the book as preserved from Daniel's day until its own time.; John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia); Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel (Anchor Bible)
  • contestedThe verb keeps the meaning of the words shut up, so the message stays obscure to all but the wise, since Daniel 12:8-10 has Daniel himself failing to understand and divides readers into those who will understand and those who will not.; Klaus Koch, Das Buch Daniel; André Lacocque, The Book of Daniel

What scholars say about satam

The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT; Gesenius18; DCH; TWOT #1550, Patterson; NIDOTTE, Carpenter and Grisanti) agree on the glosses stop up, shut up, keep close, keep secret, and TWOT distills the core as closing off so as to render inaccessible, whether a physical opening or a revelation. All three verb stems belong to one root: the base stem stops up or keeps close, the intensive stem (Genesis 26) fills wells in completely, and the passive stem (Nehemiah 3:35, English 4:7) describes breaches being closed up; the passive participle (Ezekiel 28:3; Psalm 51:8, English 51:6; Daniel 12:9) becomes a noun for a sealed or secret thing. The consonantal by-form with sin at Lamentations 3:8 is treated by BDB, HALOT, DCH, and the critical commentators as a late spelling of the same verb, not a separate root. Etymologically this root is distinct from satar (hide, cover), with separate Arabic reflexes (satama close vs. satara veil); Wagner, discussing the verb under satar in TDOT, treats the two as one overlapping semantic field, and the convergence is driven by Aramaic, where the Biblical Aramaic adjective at Daniel 2:22 sits in the same field. The Chronicles commentators (Japhet; Klein; Williamson; Knoppers) stress that at 2 Chronicles 32:30 the verb is redirective, not destructive, matching the archaeology of Hezekiah's tunnel at the Gihon Spring. In Daniel the Greek tradition shifts from emphrasso (block up), used for every concrete occurrence, to sphragizo (seal), which becomes the dominant equivalent and passes into Revelation; the Old Greek of Daniel 12:4 instead chose kalupto (cover), preserving the sense of meaning concealed. The main live debate concerns how to read the sealing imperatives in Daniel 8:26 and 12:4, 9 (Collins; Hartman and Di Lella vs. Koch; Lacocque), with integrative readings (Lucas; Seow) holding that both the documentary and the cognitive senses are present.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. סתםlexicon
  • Koehler, Baumgartner, and Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), s.v. סתםlexicon
  • Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 6, s.v. סתםlexicon
  • R. D. Patterson, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, entry 1550theological-dictionary
  • Carpenter and Grisanti, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, s.v. סתםtheological-dictionary
  • S. Wagner, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, s.v. סתרtheological-dictionary
  • Sara Japhet, I & II Chronicles: A Commentary (Old Testament Library)commentary
  • John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia)commentary
  • Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel (Anchor Bible)commentary
  • Klaus Koch, Das Buch Danielcommentary
  • André Lacocque, The Book of Danielcommentary
  • Takamitsu Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagintlexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of סָתַם

qal imperative 2ms

סְתֹם

Dan 8:26, Dan 12:4

qal passive-participle m s absolute

סָתוּם, סָתֻם

Ezk 28:3, Psa 51:6

qal perfect 3ms

סָתַם, שָׂתַם

2Ch 32:30, Lam 3:8

niphal infinitive-construct construct

הִסָּתֵם

Neh 4:7

piel consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיְסַתְּמוּ

Gen 26:18

piel perfect 3cp

סִתְּמוּ

Gen 26:15

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּסְתְּמוּ

2Ch 32:4

qal imperfect 2mp

תִּסְתֹּמוּ

2Ki 3:19

qal imperfect 3mp

יִסְתֹּמוּ

2Ki 3:25

qal infinitive-construct construct

סְתּוֹם

2Ch 32:3

qal passive-participle m p absolute

סְתֻמִים

Dan 12:9