What Does 1 Chronicles 12:29 Mean in the King James?

And of the children of Benjamin, the kindred of Saul, three thousand: for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul.

1 Chronicles 12:29 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse turns kinship into a watch: most of Benjamin is still guarding the charge of Saul’s household.

THE MEANING

Your allegiance can remain an active watch over the household that shaped it. Here, kinship is carried as a charge: most of Benjamin is still keeping watch over Saul’s house.

THE ROOT

שֹׁמְרִים מִשְׁמֶרֶת

shomrim mishmeret

GROWS FROM

שׁמר

⁨שָׁמַר⁩ (shamar) means to keep, guard, or watch.

“kept the ward” in this verse is shomrim mishmeret. The Hebrew places a verb and a noun from the same root together: they are “watching the watch,” or guarding the charge. English conveys the duty, while the repeated root makes loyalty sound like an ongoing act of keeping.

ALSO GROWS

shomrim: guards; keeps watch

שֹׁמְרִים

This is the form describing what most of Benjamin is doing: remaining on watch.

mishmeret: guard, charge, assigned watch

מִשְׁמֶרֶת

This names what they keep, tying their action to the continuing duty of Saul’s household.

שָׁאוּל

Sha’ul

GROWS FROM

שׁאל

⁨שָׁאַל⁩ (sha’al) means to ask or request; ⁨שָׁאוּל⁩ (Sha’ul) means “asked for” or “requested.”

“Saul” in this verse is Sha’ul. The charge they keep belongs to a house named for the “requested one.” The verse leaves the request unspoken, but the name keeps that trace of asking inside the household they guard.

ALSO GROWS

sha’al: to ask, inquire, or request

שָׁאַל

This is the action carried by the root beneath Saul’s name.

she’elah: a request or question

שְׁאֵלָה

This noun from the same root makes the idea of asking visible as something sought or voiced.

THE PATTERN

A charge is sustained by watchfulness, and the object being guarded gives that vigilance its shape.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJVThe man’s keeping of the garden is an ongoing watch over a place entrusted to him.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:4 · KJVThe keeper’s vigilance continues without interruption, holding Israel in watchful care.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Luke 2:8 · KJVThe shepherds’ watch is made concrete in their sustained attention to the flock entrusted to them.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJV

The shared root ⁨שׁמר⁩ (shamar, keep or watch) appears in Genesis as “keep” and in Chronicles in both “keeping” and “ward.” Genesis places the watch over a garden; Chronicles shows the same form of keeping directed toward a household and its claim.

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