Watch , i.e. the act ( custody ), or (concretely) the sentry , the post ; objectively preservation , or (concretely) safe ; figuratively observance , i.e. (abstractly) duty or (objectively) a usage or party
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H4931 is a Hebrew noun for a guard, watch, charge, custody, assigned duty, or the observance of what has been entrusted. Deuteronomy 11:1 joins keeping the LORD's charge with love, statutes, ordinances, and commandments, so the word concerns covenant faithfulness rather than mere rule management.
Reader summary
Full entry for מִשְׁמֶרֶת (H4931) · Open the biblical lexicon
H4931 is a Hebrew noun for a guard, watch, charge, custody, assigned duty, or the observance of what has been entrusted. Deuteronomy 11:1 joins keeping the LORD's charge with love, statutes, ordinances, and commandments, so the word concerns covenant faithfulness rather than mere rule management.
The BSB source-word alignment has 78 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include charge (11), My charge (5), The duties (5), Their duties (4), - (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 26:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (29), 1 Chronicles (8), Ezekiel (8), 2 Chronicles (7).
H4931 is a Hebrew noun for a guard, watch, charge, custody, assigned duty, or the observance of what has been entrusted. Deuteronomy 11:1 joins keeping the Lord's charge with love, statutes, ordinances, and commandments, so the word concerns covenant faithfulness rather than mere rule management. Numbers 1:53 assigns Levites to watch over the tabernacle, linking holy service with protective responsibility.
Habakkuk 2:1 places the prophet at his guard post, attentive for God's answer and correction. Elsewhere H4931 names gatekeepers, priestly divisions, palace custody, safe keeping, and people confined under guard. It opens teaching on stewardship, vigilance, institutional roles, and the moral conditions of custody. It corrects both careless neglect of entrusted people or practices and authoritarian uses of religious duty that make human systems immune from examination, compassion, or correction.
H4931 moves among the act of guarding, the place or post of a guard, the custody of a person or object, and an assigned charge or observance. The thing guarded, the authority assigning the duty, and the surrounding covenant or institutional setting determine the sense.
You shall therefore love the Lord your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
Israel is commanded to love the Lord and keep His charge together with His statutes, ordinances, and commandments.
But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
The Levites camp around the tabernacle and bear responsibility for guarding it on behalf of the congregation.
I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected.
The prophet takes his guard post in order to watch for God's answer and receive correction.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Denotes both vigilant guarding and faithful observance—duty expressed through active watchfulness and protective responsibility.
Denotes both vigilant guarding and faithful observance—duty expressed through active watchfulness and protective responsibility.
watch, i.e. the act (custody), or (concretely) the sentry, the post; objectively preservation, or (concretely) safe; figuratively observance, i.e. (abstractly) duty or (objectively) a usage or party BDB: guard Usage: charge, keep, or to be kept, office, ordinace, safeguard, ward, watch.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 78 lexical occurrence verses.
The word highlights disciplined vigilance. Covenant faithfulness includes attentive guarding alongside active labor.Nehemiah 4:15-23
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H4931 treats responsibility as something kept over time. Israel's charge is not a badge but a pattern of loving obedience. Levites guard the tabernacle so that worship and communal life are ordered around God's holiness, while gatekeepers and priestly divisions carry concrete schedules, places, and tasks. Habakkuk adds a needed posture: the watchman does not merely announce his own certainty.
He waits to hear what God will say and how he should answer when corrected. That detail challenges leaders who use an assigned post to avoid listening. Scripture also applies H4931 to custody and confinement, including painful settings where people are kept under guard. The presence of a charge therefore does not settle whether its exercise is just. Faithful custody protects what God entrusts, respects the limits of the role, and remains accountable for the treatment of persons under its power.
Churches and ministries can apply this through clear safeguarding duties, shared oversight, honest records, appropriate access controls, and reliable handoffs. They should not spiritualize poor supervision, conceal abuse to protect an institution, or confuse loyalty to a post with loyalty to God.
Deut.11.1
H4931 is a noun related to guarding and keeping. It can name the guard action, an assigned post or duty, an object kept in custody, or the observance of a charge, so possessive phrases and institutional context are decisive.
New Testament teaching about watchfulness, stewardship, shepherding, orderly service, and accountability continues the concern for entrusted responsibility. Those connections do not transfer every Levitical post or Israelite ordinance directly into church office structures.