cha.tam is used for placing a seal on letters and deeds, and for keeping scrolls, objects, or matters closed or secured.

The word most often marks the sealing of letters, decrees, deeds, and documents, especially where a king's ring or a sealed copy is named. It also describes scrolls, a fountain, stars, and other things as closed or shut off, while several passages apply the action or resulting state to transgression, instruction, vision, and proportion.

1. Sealing letters, decrees, and legal documents · dominant

   Qal action forms occur with writing and sending royal letters: in 1 Kings 21:8 the APB renders that letters written in Ahab's name were "sealed them with his seal," and in Esther 8:10 it renders a letter written in the king's name and "sealed it with the king's ring." Passive participles identify sealed documentary copies in Jeremiah 32:11 and Jeremiah 32:14, where a sealed deed is distinguished from an open copy.

   1 Kings 21:8Esther 3:12Esther 8:8Esther 8:10Jeremiah 32:11Jeremiah 32:14
2. Closing or securing a scroll, opening, or enclosure · common

   Imperative and passive-participial forms describe a scroll or instruction as closed: in Daniel 12:4 the APB renders "close the words and seal the scroll," while Daniel 12:9 calls the words "closed and sealed." The same closed state is applied to the unreadable scroll in Isaiah 29:11 and to the fountain in Song of Songs 4:12; Job 9:7 extends it to the stars.

   Daniel 12:4Daniel 12:9Isaiah 29:11Isaiah 8:16Job 9:7Song of Songs 4:12
3. Applying a seal to abstract or figurative matters · occasional

   The verb is applied beyond physical documents to stated matters: Daniel 9:24 places it in the sequence "to seal sin" and "to seal vision and prophet." In Job 14:17 the APB renders transgression as "sealed in a bundle," and Job 33:16 says that instruction is sealed after ears are opened; Ezekiel 28:12 uses an active participle in the clause rendered "the seal of proportion."

   Daniel 9:24Job 14:17Job 33:16Job 37:7Ezekiel 28:12

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses "seal," "sealed," and "sealed with the king's ring" in documentary clauses, while it also renders related contexts with "closed," "locked," "shut themselves in," and "seals up." These are verse-level renderings rather than definitions.