Topic
Sceptre; Scepter
26 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Genesis 49:10ISBE
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
- Numbers 21:18ISBE
The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
- Numbers 24:17ISBE
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
- Judges 5:14ISBE
Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.
- 2 Samuel 7:14ISBE
I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
- 2 Samuel 23:21ISBE
And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.
- Esther 4:11ISBE
All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king…
- Esther 5:2ISBE
And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
- Esther 8:4ISBE
Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,
- Esther 15:11ISBE
And so he held up his golden sceptre, and laid it upon her neck,
- Psalms 2:9ISBE
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
- Psalms 23:4ISBE
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Show 14 more
- Psalms 45:6 ISBE
- Psalms 60:7 ISBE
- Psalms 108:8 ISBE
- Psalms 125:3 ISBE
- Proverbs 22:8 ISBE
- Isaiah 10:24 ISBE
- Isaiah 14:5 ISBE
- Isaiah 30:31 ISBE
- Ezekiel 19:11 ISBE
- Ezekiel 19:14 ISBE
- Amos 1:5 ISBE
- Amos 1:8 ISBE
- Zechariah 10:11 ISBE
- Hebrews 1:8 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 31 references
sep'-ter (shebheT, sharbhiT, expanded form in Es 4:11; 5:2; 8:4; rhabdos (Additions to Esther 15:11; Heb 1:8), skeptros): A rod or mace used by a sovereign as a symbol of royal authority. The Hebrew shebheT is the ordinary word for rod or club, and is used of an ordinary rod (compare 2Sa 7:14), of the shepherd's crook (Ps 23:4), scribe's baton or marshal's staff (Jud 5:14), as well as of the symbol of royalty. Its symbolism may be connected with the use of the shebheT for protection (2Sa 23:21; Ps 23:4) or for punishment (Isa 10:24; 30:31). It is used with reference to the royal line descended from Judah (Ge 49:10), and figuratively of sovereignty in general and possibly of conquest (Nu 24:17, in Israel; Isa 14:5, in Babylonia; Am 1:5,8, in Syria, among Philistines; Zec 10:11, in Egypt), the disappearance or cutting off of him that holdeth the scepter being tantamount to loss of national independence. The kingship of Yahweh is spoken of as a scepter (Ps 45:6 (Hebrew verse 7) quoted in Heb 1:8). The manner of using the scepter by an oriental monarch is suggested in the act of Ahasuerus, who holds it out to Esther as a mark of favor. The subject touches the top of it, perhaps simply as an act of homage or possibly to indicate a desire to be heard. The scepter of Ahasuerus is spoken of as "golden" (Es 5:2), but it is probable that scepters were ordinarily made of straight branches (maTeh) of certain kinds of vines (Eze 19:11,14).
It is sometimes difficult to determine whether the word shebheT is used in figurative passages in the sense of scepter or merely in the ordinary sense of staff (e.g. Ps 125:3, the King James Version "rod," the Revised Version (British and American) and the American Standard Revised Version "sceptre" (of the wicked); Ps 2:9, "rod of iron"; Pr 22:8, "rod of his wrath"). Another word, mechoqeq, literally, "prescribing" (person or thing), formerly translated uniformly "lawgiver," is now generally taken, on the basis of parallelism, to mean "sceptre" in four poetic passages (Ge 49:10, "ruler's staff" to avoid repetition; Nu 21:18; Ps 60:7; 108:8).
Nathan Isaacs
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.