What Does 1 Chronicles 26:12 Mean?

Among these were the divisions of the gatekeepers, even the heads of the mighty men, keeping watch in turns, one against the other, to attend in the house of the LORD.

1 Chronicles 26:12 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Among these were the divisions of the porters, even among the chief men, having wards one against another, to minister in the house of the LORD.

THE KEY

What the KJV calls “wards” carries the sense of appointed watches, so the verse pictures service as a keeping shared in relation to others.

THE MEANING

The work of serving what is set apart takes shape through shared watches, each assigned alongside another. Guarding and serving belong to the same work of keeping the house attended.

THE ROOT

מִשְׁמָרוֹת

mishmarot

GROWS FROM

שמר

sh-m-r

To keep, guard, or watch over.

“keeping watch in turns, one against the other” in this verse is mishmarot. Here, “wards” carries the sense of appointed watches; the Hebrew word grows from ⁨שָׁמַר⁩ (shamar), to keep or guard. The same root joins keeping something safe with taking one’s place on watch, so service in the house is also an act of attentive preservation.

ALSO GROWS

shamar: To keep, guard, or watch.

שָׁמַר

The verb names the attentive keeping carried out through the watches in the verse.

mishmeret: A watch, charge, or assigned duty.

מִשְׁמֶרֶת

This branch shows that keeping can be organized as a specific responsibility.

shomer: A keeper or watchman.

שֹׁמֵר

This branch gives a name to the person who takes a place in the shared watch.

THE PATTERN

What is entrusted is kept through distinct watches and acts of service held in relation to one another.

And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot, and while they stand by, let them shut the doors and bar them. And appoint watches of the settlers of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one facing his own house.

Nehemiah 7:3 · SDVThe keeping is assigned as watches, with each person placed in relation to a house and to the others.

And they shall keep his watch, and the watch of the whole assembly before the tent of the assembly, to do the work of the dwelling.

Numbers 3:7 · SDVKeeping the charge and doing the service are named as one entrusted work held on behalf of the whole congregation.

As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.

1 Peter 4:10 · SDVWhat each receives becomes service offered to one another, making each person’s gift part of shared care.

THE THREAD

And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot, and while they stand by, let them shut the doors and bar them. And appoint watches of the settlers of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one facing his own house.

Nehemiah 7:3 · SDV

Both verses use ⁨מִשְׁמָר⁩ (mishmar, a watch or assigned duty) and ⁨מִשְׁמָרוֹת⁩ (mishmarot, watches), words from ⁨שָׁמַר⁩ (shamar, to keep or watch). Nehemiah’s wording, each in a watch, each facing a house, makes the relational shape of “one against another” visible: the keeping is distributed, with every watch placed alongside another.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us