What Does Ezra 8:29 Mean in the King James?
Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.
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 turns custody into a sequence: stay alert, guard what is entrusted, then let its weight be openly verified.
THE MEANING
What is entrusted to you calls for attention and protection until its full measure can be seen before those authorized to receive it. Responsibility reaches its handoff through an observable accounting.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Once an item is handed over, responsibility is finished; the verse shows that custody continues until the measure is verified.
THE ROOT
הִשָּׁקְדוּ
hishaqedu
GROWS FROM
שקד
To watch attentively, stay awake, or be alert.
“watch” in this verse is hishaqedu. This is wakeful attention: noticing what is entrusted rather than merely looking at it. Its sibling word for almond, שָׁקֵד (shaqed, almond), participates in Jeremiah’s wordplay with שֹׁקֵד (shoqed, watching), giving watchfulness an image of early waking.
ALSO GROWS
shoqed: Watching or staying alert.
שֹׁקֵד
Jeremiah 1:11–12 links this word with the almond tree, turning alertness into an image of wakeful attention.
shaqed: Almond; the almond tree.
שָׁקֵד
The wordplay in Jeremiah 1:11–12 joins the almond’s early waking with watching; here alertness begins the careful custody of the vessels.
וְשִׁמְרוּ
veshamru
GROWS FROM
שמר
To guard, watch over, or preserve.
The word translated “keep” describes active guarding, not simply storing the vessels. Paired with alert attention and followed by weighing, it makes custody a continuing charge with a visible endpoint.
ALSO GROWS
mishmeret: A guard duty, watch, or entrusted charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The word shows that keeping can name an ongoing responsibility, as it does for these vessels.
shomer: A guardian or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch names the person who actively protects what has been placed in their care.
תִּשְׁקְלוּ
tishqelu
GROWS FROM
שקל
To weigh or determine weight.
“weigh” in this verse is tishqelu. The verse names a concrete check on the vessels: their custody becomes accountable through a known weight measured before witnesses. The shared root keeps weighing tied to a tangible standard rather than an impression.
ALSO GROWS
sheqel: A unit of weight; later also a unit of currency.
שֶׁקֶל
This branch shows how weighing connects to a defined, countable measure.
mishqal: Weight or the act of weighing.
מִשְׁקָל
The word makes the verse’s handoff measurable: the vessels’ amount is made visible before those receiving them.
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted remains under watch until its handling can be made visible through a fair and accountable measure.
A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.THE THREAD
And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.Ezra’s “keep them” and Numbers’ “keep his charge” share the Hebrew root שמר (shamar, guard or preserve). Numbers names keeping as an ongoing charge; Ezra adds a witnessed weighing that makes the handoff of that charge visible.
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