What Does Ecclesiastes 12:13 Mean in the King James?
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
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 Hebrew calls awe of God and guarding his commands “all the human,” presenting them as the shape of human wholeness.
THE MEANING
Your wholeness is gathered in awe of God and the careful keeping of God’s commandments. The closing phrase, “the whole duty of man,” also carries the sense “all the human,” making this the verse’s picture of human life in its entirety.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reverence is an add-on to an otherwise complete life; the verse places it within the whole of human life.
THE ROOT
שָׁמוֹר
shamor
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
To watch, guard, or preserve.
The English “keep” can sound like mere compliance, while shamar carries the image of attentive guarding. Beside awe of God, it reveals a watchful relationship to the commandments.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: A watchman or keeper.
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper is one who stays alert to what has been entrusted to them.
mishmeret: A charge, guard, or entrusted duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The word links keeping with care for something placed in one’s charge.
יָרֵא
yare
GROWS FROM
ירא
To stand in awe or fear.
“fear” in this verse is yare. Here yare names awe before God. Joined to shamar, it describes reverence expressed as attentive guarding.
ALSO GROWS
yirah: Awe or fear.
יִרְאָה
The noun form shows that awe is not merely a passing reaction but a posture.
nora: Awe-inspiring or fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This form describes what evokes awe, illuminating the weight carried by “Fear God.”
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted to human care is kept through attentive guarding.
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.If ye love me, keep my commandments.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 uses the same Hebrew root, shamar, for keeping the garden that Ecclesiastes uses for keeping the commandments. Both verses place human life in a relationship of attentive care for what is entrusted to it.
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