Original Word: רְשַׁם
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: rsham
Pronunciation: reh-SHAHM
Phonetic Spelling: (resh-am')
NASB: signed, sign, written
Word Origin: [(Aramaic) corresponding to H7559 (רָשַׁם - inscribed)]

1. sign, write

sign, write

(Aramaic) corresponding to rasham -- sign, write.

see HEBREW rasham

Word Origin
(Aramaic) corresponding to rasham
Definition
to inscribe, sign
NASB Translation
sign (2), signed (3), written (2).

Scriptural Context

Seventeen verses of Daniel are written in Aramaic, the international language of the empires that surrounded Judah during the exile. Within this section רְשַׁם appears seven times, exclusively in Daniel 5:24–25 and 6:8–13, always translated in the Berean Standard Bible as “inscription” or “written.” The term therefore belongs to two linked court narratives: the judgment of Belshazzar and the trial of Daniel under Darius the Mede (also known as Cyrus the Persian).

Narrative Function

1. Divine verdict (Daniel 5:24-25). Belshazzar profaned the temple vessels. “Then from His presence the hand was sent, and this inscription was written” (Daniel 5:24). The mysterious text, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN,” sealed Babylon’s doom.
2. Royal decree (Daniel 6:8-13). Conspirators urged Darius to sign a statute forbidding petitions to any god or man except the king. The narration stresses four times that the edict was “written,” highlighting its irrevocability. Daniel’s faithful prayer, the king’s reluctant entrapment, and God’s miraculous rescue all turn on that single written law.

Judicial and Imperial Overtones

Babylonian and Persian jurisprudence held that official writings, once sealed, could not be altered (cf. Esther 8:8). רְשַׁם carries this legal weight. Whether heavenly writing on plaster or ink on a royal scroll, the act of inscribing confers final authority. Human emperors imitate permanence; God alone embodies it.

Doctrinal Themes

• Sovereignty. Babylon falls the night the heavenly inscription appears; Persia must bow to the God who rescues Daniel. The certainty of God’s written verdict surpasses human decrees.
• Revelation. Both episodes pivot on a text that must be interpreted—first by Daniel, later by events. Scripture likewise demands Spirit-illuminated understanding.
• Covenant Faithfulness. Daniel reads the cryptic words and later submits to the lions’ den because he trusts the unchanging God whose own “law is perfect” (Psalm 19:7). The immutable written word stands over king and prophet alike.

Christological and Eschatological Reflections

The contrast between ephemeral imperial edicts and God’s definitive inscription anticipates the incarnate Word who declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Revelation promises, “nothing unclean will ever enter [the city], but only those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Revelation 21:27). God’s final רְשַׁם is the eternal registry of the redeemed.

Lessons for Contemporary Ministry

1. Submit to Scripture. As Daniel bowed to an unalterable text, so the church must yield to the inerrant, complete canon.
2. Discern transient laws. Governments issue edicts; believers weigh them against the higher authority of God’s word.
3. Proclaim judgment and mercy. Like Daniel, ministers must interpret God’s verdict—warning the rebellious while offering grace through Christ.
4. Encourage perseverance. The lions’ den account assures suffering saints that no decree can annul divine protection or alter their eternal standing.

Thus Strong’s 7560 illuminates the unshakeable power of whatever God writes, reveals the limitations of human authority, and calls every generation to revere, trust, and obey the written word of the living God.

וְתִרְשֻׁ֣ם ותרשם רְשִֽׁים׃ רְשִׁ֑ים רְשִׁ֤ים רְשַׁ֑מְתָּ רְשַׁ֗מְתָּ רְשַׁ֥ם רשים רשים׃ רשם רשמת rə·šam rə·šam·tā rə·šîm rəšam rəšamtā reSham reShamta reShim rəšîm vetirShum wə·ṯir·šum wəṯiršumInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts