What Does 1 Kings 2:3 Mean in the King James?
And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse joins keeping the LORD’s charge to acting wisely, so prosperity reaches the whole path you walk and every direction you turn.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s instruction meets you across your whole course: you keep its charge, walk its ways, and attend to its statutes, commands, judgments, and testimonies. The passage joins that guarded, lived direction to acting wisely in everything you do and wherever you turn. Its promise reaches the practical shape and outcome of your life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that devotion to the LORD is separate from ordinary work and direction: the verse joins instruction to what you do and where you turn.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַר
shamar
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
To guard, keep watch over, or preserve.
The Hebrew puts שָׁמַר (shamar) in both the verb translated “keep” and the noun translated “charge,” מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret). The LORD’s charge is a trust to be watched over and then walked out.
ALSO GROWS
mishmeret: Charge, guard duty, or something entrusted for keeping.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This is the word translated “charge” in the same phrase, echoing the verb “keep” and showing that the charge itself carries the idea of guarded care.
shomer: Keeper or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch makes the attentiveness in “keep” visible: keeping the charge means watching over what has been entrusted.
תַּשְׂכִּיל
taskil
GROWS FROM
שׂכל
To have insight or act prudently; in this form, to act wisely and succeed.
“prosper” in this verse is taskil. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of acting with insight and so succeeding; prosperity here includes intelligent, effective action. That outcome follows the charge to guard and walk the instruction, joining it to whatever you do and wherever you turn.
ALSO GROWS
sekhel: Understanding, intelligence, or prudence.
שֵׂכֶל
This branch shows the insight carried within the word translated “prosper,” giving success a dimension of discernment.
maskil: One who has insight or acts prudently.
מַשְׂכִּיל
This related form connects the verse’s outcome with the quality of acting wisely.
THE PATTERN
Scripture joins sustained attention to instruction with its embodiment in action and the fruit of one’s course.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.THE THREAD
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.The verb translated “preserve” is שָׁמַר (shamar, “guard” or “keep”), the same root behind “keep” in this verse. Here the guarding of a life’s path is also named as the LORD’s action, over its going out and coming in.
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