What Does Judges 13:13 Mean?
And the messenger of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman, let her guard herself.
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 the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.THE KEY
The word translated “beware” shares its root with “keep”: the messenger’s words become a watch the woman carries over the life taking shape within her.
THE MEANING
The verse presents a word as something still active after it is heard: the woman keeps watch over all that has been spoken. For you, the message is not reduced to its headline; every part remains within the care it names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the idea that only the promise matters while its details can fall away: “of all” places the whole message within her keeping.
THE ROOT
תִּשָּׁמֵר
tishamer
GROWS FROM
שמר
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“guard herself” in this verse is tishamer. The verb behind “beware” carries the sense of actively keeping something entrusted, not merely feeling cautious. The whole message becomes a charge held under watch, which is why “of all” matters.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guardian.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch makes guarding an active role: the woman is keeping watch over what has been entrusted to her.
mishmeret: Charge, watch, or duty entrusted.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A charge is something placed under care, revealing that the words spoken to her are a whole responsibility to keep.
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted for life is sustained through attentive keeping.
And the LORD God took Adam and set him down in the garden of Eden, to serve it and to guard it.Above every watch you keep, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.Guard the good thing placed beside you, through the Set-Apart Breath which makes its home in us.THE THREAD
Guard yourselves in all that I have said to you. Do not call up the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.Judges uses shamar for the woman’s charge, and Exodus uses the same root in “in all things that I have said unto you.” In both, all the words spoken are held together with the act of keeping.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us