סָגַר
sa.gar
to shut
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# סָגַר (sagar): "To Shut" The Hebrew word *sagar* appears 91 times throughout the biblical text, establishing it as a moderately frequent term for the action of closing or shutting. The word carries a straightforward, physical meaning: to seal something closed by shutting a door, gate, or similar barrier. This basic semantic range—the simple act of closure—forms the foundation of its biblical usage across diverse contexts. Given its 91 occurrences, *sagar* functioned as a standard vocabulary item for describing commonplace actions of securing spaces and controlling access. Whether describing the shutting of a door, the closing of a city gate, or the sealing of an opening, the word maintained its core sense of creating a closed or locked state. This consistency in meaning across numerous biblical passages suggests that ancient Hebrew speakers employed *sagar* as a reliable, concrete term without significant metaphorical elaboration in most contexts. The frequency and distribution of *sagar* across biblical literature indicate its importance as an everyday term for a fundamental action—closing and controlling entry. Its significance lies not in conceptual complexity but in its foundational role in describing physical closure, a concept central to narratives involving confinement, security, and the management of boundaries in ancient Israelite life.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
91 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Ahaz gathered together the vessels of God’s house, and cut the vessels of God’s house in pieces, and shut up the doors of Yahweh’s house; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 29:7Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
Genesis 19:6Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself.
Nehemiah 13:19It came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, so that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day.
Nehemiah 6:10I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”
Ezekiel 46:1“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
Ezekiel 46:2The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
Job 3:10because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.
Job 11:10If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
Job 12:14Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
Job 16:11God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
Job 41:15Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.
Psalms 78:62He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
Psalms 17:10They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.
Psalms 31:8You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
Psalms 35:3Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me. Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.”
Psalms 78:48He gave over their livestock also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
Psalms 78:50He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence,
Leviticus 13:21But if the priest examines it, and behold, there are no white hairs in it, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall isolate him seven days.
Ecclesiastes 12:4and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
Isaiah 22:22I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
Isaiah 22:22I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
Isaiah 24:10The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isaiah 24:22They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be visited.
Isaiah 26:20Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.
Isaiah 45:1Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
Isaiah 60:11Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.
Jeremiah 13:19The cities of the South are shut up, and there is no one to open them. Judah is carried away captive: all of them. They are wholly carried away captive.
Lamentations 2:7The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.
Ezekiel 3:24Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet. He spoke with me, and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
Ezekiel 46:12When the prince prepares a free will offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a free will offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the gate.
Ezekiel 44:1Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
Ezekiel 44:2Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut.
Ezekiel 44:2Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut.
Amos 1:6Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;
Amos 1:9Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;
Amos 6:8“The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
Obadiah 1:14Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress.
Malachi 1:10“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
Genesis 2:21Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
Genesis 7:16Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in.
Genesis 19:10But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
Exodus 14:3Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’
Leviticus 13:4If the bright spot is white in the skin of his body, and its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and its hair hasn’t turned white, then the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days.
Leviticus 13:5The priest shall examine him on the seventh day. Behold, if in his eyes the plague is arrested and the plague hasn’t spread in the skin, then the priest shall isolate him for seven more days.
Leviticus 13:11it is a chronic leprosy in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He shall not isolate him, for he is already unclean.
Leviticus 13:26But if the priest examines it, and behold, there is no white hair in the bright spot, and it isn’t deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall isolate him seven days.
Leviticus 13:31If the priest examines the plague of itching, and behold, its appearance isn’t deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall isolate the person infected with itching seven days.
Leviticus 13:33then he shall be shaved, but he shall not shave the itch. Then the priest shall isolate the one who has the itch seven more days.
Leviticus 13:50The priest shall examine the plague, and isolate the plague seven days.