Bible Strands
Haggai 2:23
On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, immediately after pronouncing the overthrow of earthly kingdoms and military collapse (Haggai 2:22).
The words — אֶקּחֲךָ ('E.ka.cha./kha) literally means "I will take you," indicating a decisive divine action toward Zerubbabel.
The thread — The motif of being chosen and set as a signet or seal runs through Isaiah 42:1 and Song of Solomon 8:6, where divine selection and covenant loyalty are similarly depicted.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that earthly authority is transient while God personally appoints and secures His chosen instruments for His purposes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.
- Isaiah 42:1 “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- Jeremiah 22:24 “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
- Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
- Matthew 12:18 “Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
- 1 Peter 2:4 As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,
- John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- 2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- Isaiah 49:1 Listen to Me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.