mishmeret · charge, duty

What it means

mishmeret (מִשְׁמֶרֶת) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “charge, duty”.

What someone is entrusted to guard or carry out; also guard, watch, keeping.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. What one is entrusted to keep or carry out.
2. A group of men who keep watch or serve in turns.
3. Something set aside so that it is kept.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Charge: what is entrusted to someone to keep or carry out; from there also the guard, the watch and what is kept. It comes from שָׁמַר, “keep” (H8104). BDB: a watch, custody; what is observed: duty, charge, ordinance.

• “Kept my charge”: obedience Genesis 26:5Malachi 3:14
• The charge of the priests and Levites Leviticus 8:35Numbers 3:7Nehemiah 12:45
• The guard of the king's house 2 Kings 11:5
• What is kept for later Exodus 16:23Exodus 12:6

How we translate it

“Charge” 51 times, “watches” 6, “be kept” 5, “watch” 4, “guard” 3. שָׁמַר מִשְׁמֶרֶת is “keep the charge” (“They shall keep his charge”, Numbers 3:7), keeping the Hebrew pair of verb and noun; “watch” or “guard” when it is a turn of watching (2 Kings 11:5).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• charge ×51
• watches ×6
• be kept ×5
• watch ×4
• guard ×3
• keep ×2
• post ×2
• posts ×2
• guards ×1
• had charges ×1
• others ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×5
• Leviticus×3
• Numbers×29
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×8
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Nehemiah×5
• Isaiah×1
• Ezekiel×8
• Habakkuk×1
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 26:5

  because Abraham listened to my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions.”

• Exodus 12:6

  You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

• Exodus 16:23

  He said to them, “This is what YHWH has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to YHWH. What you will bake, bake; and what you will boil, boil; and all that is left over put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’ ”

• Exodus 16:32

  Moses said, “This is the thing that YHWH has commanded: ‘A full omer of it is to be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”

• Exodus 16:33

  Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put in it a full omer of manna, and set it before YHWH, to be kept throughout your generations.”

• Exodus 16:34

  As YHWH commanded Moses, Aaron set it before the testimony, to be kept.

• Leviticus 8:35

  At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, and keep the charge of YHWH, so that you do not die; for so I have been commanded.”

• Leviticus 18:30

  So you shall keep my charge, not to do any of the abominable statutes that were done before you, and you shall not make yourselves unclean by them. I am YHWH your Elohim.”

• Leviticus 22:9

  So they shall keep my charge, so that they do not bear sin because of it and die by it when they profane it. I am YHWH, who sanctifies them.

• Numbers 1:53

  But the Levites shall camp around the dwelling of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the community of the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the dwelling of the testimony.”

• Numbers 3:7

  They shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole community before the tent of meeting, doing the service of the dwelling.

• Numbers 3:8

  They shall keep all the utensils of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, doing the service of the dwelling.

• Numbers 3:25

  And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting is the dwelling and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting,

• Numbers 3:28

  According to the number of every male from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the charge of the Holy Place.

• Numbers 3:31

  And their charge is the ark, and the table, and the lampstand, and the altars, and the utensils of the Holy Place with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service.

• Numbers 3:32

  And the chief of the chiefs of the Levites is Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, with oversight of those who keep the charge of the Holy Place.

• Numbers 3:36

  And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari is the frames of the dwelling, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases, and all its utensils, and all its service,

• Numbers 3:38

  And those who camp in front of the dwelling on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary, as the charge of the sons of Israel; and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death.

• Numbers 4:27

  According to the command of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their load and in all their service; and you shall assign to them as a charge all their load.

• Numbers 4:28

  This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their charge shall be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

• Numbers 4:31

  And this is the charge of their load, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the frames of the dwelling, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases,

• Numbers 4:32

  and the pillars of the court all around, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords, with all their utensils and with all their service; and by names you shall assign the utensils of the charge of their load.

• Numbers 8:26

  He may minister to his brothers in the tent of meeting in keeping the charge, but he shall do no service. Thus you shall do for the Levites regarding their charges.”

• Numbers 9:19

  And when the cloud lingered over the dwelling many days, the sons of Israel would keep the charge of YHWH and not set out.

• Numbers 9:23

  According to the command of YHWH they would camp, and according to the command of YHWH they would set out; they kept the charge of YHWH, according to the command of YHWH through Moses.

• Numbers 17:10

  And YHWH said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, so that you put an end to their grumblings against me, and they will not die.”

• Numbers 18:3

  They shall keep your charge and the charge of all the tent; only to the utensils of the holy place and to the altar they shall not come near, so that they do not die, neither they nor you.

• Numbers 18:4

  They shall be joined to you and keep the charge of the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent; and a stranger shall not come near to you.

• Numbers 18:5

  And you shall keep the charge of the holy place and the charge of the altar, so that there will no longer be wrath on the sons of Israel.

• Numbers 18:8

  And YHWH spoke to Aaron, “And I, look, I have given you the charge of my contributions, of all the holy things of the sons of Israel; I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due.

• Numbers 19:9

  And a clean man shall gather up the ash of the cow and deposit it outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be for the community of the sons of Israel to keep for the water of impurity; it is a sin offering.

• Numbers 31:30

  And from the half of the sons of Israel you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep, of all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep the charge of the dwelling of YHWH.”

• Numbers 31:47

  from the half of the sons of Israel Moses took the one drawn out of every fifty, of the people and of the animals, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the dwelling of YHWH, as YHWH had commanded Moses.

• Deuteronomy 11:1

  You shall love YHWH your Elohim and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments, all the days.

• Joshua 22:3

  You have not abandoned your brothers these many days up to this day, and you have kept the charge of the commandment of YHWH your Elohim.

• 1 Samuel 22:23

  Stay with me; do not be afraid, for whoever seeks my life seeks your life; for you are under guard with me.”

• 2 Samuel 20:3

  David came to his house in Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women, the concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in a house under guard; he provided for them, but to them he did not go in. So they were shut up until the day of their death, in widowhood for life.

• 1 Kings 2:3

  And keep the charge of YHWH your Elohim, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the instruction of Moses, so that you may act wisely in all that you do and wherever you turn,

• 2 Kings 11:5

  He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you are to do: a third of you, those who come in on the Sabbath, will be keeping watch over the house of the king;

• 2 Kings 11:6

  a third will be at the gate Sur; and a third at the gate behind the runners; and you will keep watch over the house in turns.

And 38 more times.