What Does 2 Kings 11:6 Mean?
And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third part at the gate behind the runners; so shall you keep the watch of the house, that none break through it.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.THE KEY
Keeping the house and keeping watch come from the same Hebrew root, making protection a sustained act rather than a condition the house simply has.
THE MEANING
Your house is kept through watchfulness stationed at its vulnerable gates. The verse treats that protection as a shared, defined charge because the possibility of a breach is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A house is not secure simply because it is a house; its exposed entrances require active guarding.
THE ROOT
וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־מִשְׁמֶרֶת
ushmartem et-mishmeret
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
To keep watch over, guard, or preserve.
“keep the watch” in this verse is ushmartem et-mishmeret. The Hebrew repeats one root in both the verb translated “keep” and the noun translated “watch.” The house is guarded by an assigned watch: protection here is active, shared attention at the points of entry.
ALSO GROWS
mishmeret: An assigned watch, charge, or guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This is the noun translated “watch”; the assignment itself carries the root’s sense of guarding.
shomer: A keeper or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch gives watchfulness a present guardian: the house is kept by someone holding the post.
THE PATTERN
A place is kept intact through watchful care directed toward what can enter or harm it.
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.The LORD watches over you from all harm; he watches over your living soul.But know this, that if the householder knew in what watch the thief comes, he would stay awake and would not let his house be dug through.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.The same root, שׁמר (shamar, “keep” or “guard”), describes keeping the garden and keeping watch over the house. In both verses, keeping a place means sustaining its integrity through attentive care.
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