shamar · keep, guard

What it means

shamar (שָׁמַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “keep, guard”.

Keep: watch over, guard, protect; also keep a command or a covenant, observe.

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. To watch over, protect from all harm.
2. To obey the covenant or the commands.
3. To watch out for oneself.
4. To keep something, or watch and wait.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Keep: watch over, guard, protect; also carry out what is commanded. BDB defines it as to hedge about, and generally to protect and attend to. From this verb comes מִשְׁמֶרֶת, “charge, watch” (H4931).

• To take care of a place or a person Genesis 2:15Genesis 4:9
• To protect: “May YHWH… keep you” Numbers 6:24
• To keep the covenant, the commandments, the Sabbaths Genesis 17:9Exodus 20:6Exodus 31:13
• “Take care”: to be careful not to do something Genesis 24:6

How we translate it

“Keep” 209 times, “kept” 58, “guard” 33, “keeping” 19, “Be careful” 17, “keeper” 14, “take care” 14. It is translated “keep” consistently, so that it can be seen that the same verb serves for protecting and for obeying: the man is put in the garden “to work it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15), and Cain asks “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). As a warning, “Take care” or “Be careful”.

How it is translated

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

• keep ×209
• kept ×58
• guard ×33
• keeping ×19
• Be careful ×17
• keeps ×15
• keeper ×14
• take care ×14
• keepers ×13
• who keeps ×12
• others ×64

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×15
• Exodus×25
• Leviticus×16
• Numbers×19
• Deuteronomy×73
• Joshua×11
• Judges×7
• 1 Samuel×16
• 2 Samuel×10
• 1 Kings×23
• 2 Kings×18
• 1 Chronicles×10
• 2 Chronicles×15
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×12
• Esther×6
• Job×12
• Psalms×71
• Proverbs×31
• Ecclesiastes×9
• Song of Songs×3
• Isaiah×12
• Jeremiah×13
• Ezekiel×20
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×4
• Amos×2
• Jonah×1
• Micah×2
• Zechariah×3
• Malachi×6

• Genesis 2:15

  And YHWH Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

• Genesis 3:24

  And he drove out the man, and he stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the sword that turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

• Genesis 4:9

  And YHWH said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

• Genesis 17:9

  Elohim said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

• Genesis 17:10

  This is my covenant which you will keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

• Genesis 18:19

  For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of YHWH by doing righteousness and justice, so that YHWH may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.”

• Genesis 24:6

  Abraham said to him, “Take care that you do not take back my son there.

• Genesis 26:5

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

• Genesis 28:15

  Look, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not abandon you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

• Genesis 28:20

  Jacob made a vow, saying, “If Elohim is with me and keeps me on this way that I am going, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

• Genesis 30:31

  He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do for me this thing, I will again pasture your flock and keep it.

• Genesis 31:24

  But Elohim came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful not to speak with Jacob either good or bad.”

• Genesis 31:29

  It is in the power of my hand to do you harm; but the Elohim of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to speak with Jacob either good or bad.’

• Genesis 37:11

  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

• Genesis 41:35

  Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up grain under the hand of Pharaoh, as food in the cities, and let them keep it.

• Exodus 10:28

  Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take care never again to see my face, for on the day you see my face you will die.”

• Exodus 12:17

  You shall keep the festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought out your armies from the land of Egypt; and you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a statute forever.

• Exodus 12:24

  You shall keep this thing as a statute for you and for your sons forever.

• Exodus 12:25

  When you come to the land that YHWH will give you, as he has spoken, you shall keep this service.

• Exodus 13:10

  You shall keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

• Exodus 15:26

  He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of YHWH your Elohim, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not put on you any of the diseases that I put on the Egyptians; for I am YHWH, your healer.”

• Exodus 16:28

  YHWH said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

• Exodus 19:5

  And now, if you will listen carefully to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special treasure out of all the peoples; for all the earth is mine;

• Exodus 19:12

  You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up on the mountain or touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 20:6

  but showing loyal love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

• Exodus 21:29

  But if an ox has been given to goring in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

• Exodus 21:36

  Or if it is known that the ox has been given to goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely repay, ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his.

• Exodus 22:7

  When a man gives his neighbor silver or goods to keep, and it is stolen from the house of the man, if the thief is found, he shall repay double.

• Exodus 22:10

  When a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a lamb or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured or is carried off, with no one seeing,

• Exodus 23:13

  In all that I have said to you, take care. Do not mention the name of other gods; let it not be heard on your lips.

• Exodus 23:15

  The feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.

• Exodus 23:20

  Look, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

• Exodus 23:21

  Be careful before him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

• Exodus 31:13

  “And you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘Surely you shall keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you know that I am YHWH who sanctifies you.

• Exodus 31:14

  You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

• Exodus 31:16

  And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as an eternal covenant.

• Exodus 34:11

  Keep for yourself what I am commanding you today. Look, I am driving out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Exodus 34:12

  Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst.

• Exodus 34:18

  The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

• 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.”

And 428 more times.