What Does 1 Chronicles 9:23 Mean?

So they and their children were over the gates of the house of the LORD, the house of the dwelling, by watches.

1 Chronicles 9:23 · 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

So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the LORD, namely, the house of the tabernacle, by wards.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for these “wards” grows from ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar), “to keep or guard”: watching the gate is part of keeping the house.

THE MEANING

You encounter a house whose gates are held in care by a watch carried from one generation to the next. The guarding of its entrance is part of what keeps the house a house.

THE ROOT

מִשְׁמָרוֹת

mishmarot

GROWS FROM

שׁמר

shamar

to keep, guard, or watch over

“by watches” in this verse is mishmarot. The word translated “wards” comes from the same root as “keep” and “guard.” The verse holds together the watch at the gate and the keeping of the house: its threshold is part of its care.

ALSO GROWS

mishmeret: watch or guard duty

מִשְׁמֶרֶת

It shares the root ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar), showing that a watch is an ongoing charge of keeping.

shomer: keeper or guard

שׁוֹמֵר

It names the one who watches; the verse describes that keeping as a duty shared by parents and children.

THE PATTERN

A dwelling or trust is sustained through watchfulness carried out over time.

And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.

Genesis 2:15 · SDV“Keep” translates ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar), the same root behind the watch-duty at the gates.

The LORD watches over you from all harm; he watches over your living soul.

Psalm 121:7 · SDVBoth instances of “preserve” grow from ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar), describing watchful keeping.

who are guarded by the strength of God through trust, unto deliverance prepared to be unveiled in the last season.

1 Peter 1:5 · SDVThe verse pictures what is entrusted as held in a continuing guard.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.

Genesis 2:15 · SDV

“Keep” in Genesis and “wards” here share the Hebrew root ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar), “to keep or guard.” The garden and the house both stand within a charge of keeping; the threshold belongs to that care.

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