What Does 2 Kings 11:6 Mean in the King James?
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 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
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 the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep 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.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us