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Hebrew

Charge

מִשְׁמֶ֫רֶתStrong’s H4931

mishmeret (mish-me-ret)

Appears in 69 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Mishmeret is the Hebrew word usually translated “duty of”, “charge of” and “keeping”. It appears in 69 verses of the Old Testament.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.”
Zechariah 3:7 KJV
Meaning
  1. Guard, charge, function, obligation, service, watchguard, watch, house of detention or confinement · keeping, preserving · charge, injunction · office, function (ceremonial)
How it's translated
  • duty of 18
  • charge of 8
  • for keeping 5
  • service of 5
  • charge my 4
  • duty my 3
  • a duty 3
  • watch of 3

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Numbers 24
  • 2 Chronicles 7
  • Ezekiel 7
  • 1 Chronicles 6
  • Exodus 5
  • Nehemiah 4

18 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 69 verses, by book
Genesis 1
26:5
Leviticus 3
8:3518:3022:9
Deuteronomy 1
11:1
Joshua 1
22:3
1 Samuel 1
22:23
2 Samuel 1
20:3
1 Kings 1
2:3
2 Kings 3
11:511:611:7
Isaiah 1
21:8
Habakkuk 1
2:1
Zechariah 1
3:7
Malachi 1
3:14
Hebrew dictionary

מִשְׁמֶ֫רֶת mishmeret · charge

1) guard, charge, function, obligation, service, watch 1a) guard, watch, house of detention or confinement 1b) keeping, preserving 1c) charge, injunction 1d) office, function (ceremonial)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “charge” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

CHARGE, verb transitive

  1. To rush on; to fall on; to attack, especially with fixed bayonets; as, an army charges the enemy.
  2. To load, as a musket or cannon; to thrust in powder, or powder and ball or shot.
  3. To lead or burden; to throw on or impose that which oppresses; as, to charge the stomach with indigestible food; or to lay on, or to fill, without oppressing; as, to charge the memory with rules and precepts; to charge the mid with facts.
  4. To set or lay on; to impose, as a tax; as, the land is charged with a quit rent; a rent is charge on the land.
All definitions and other forms of “charge”
  1. To lay on or impose, as a task.
  2. To put or lay on; as, to charge a building with ornaments, often implying superfluity.
  3. To lay on, as a duty; followed by with.
  4. To entrust to; as, an officer is charged with dispatches.
  5. To set to, as a dept; to place on the debit side of an account; as, to charge a man with the price of goods sold to him.
  6. To load or lay on in words, something wrong, reproachful or criminal; to impute to; as, to charge a man with theft.
  7. To lay on in words; to impute to; followed by on before the person; as, to charge a crime on the offender; to charge evil consequences on the doctrines of the stoics.
  8. To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort.“In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” Job 1:22
  9. To lay on, give or communicate, as an order, command or earnest request; to enjoin; to exhort.“CHARGE them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded” 1 Timothy 6:17
  10. To give directions to; to instruct authoritatively; as, the judge charged the grand jury to inquire respecting breaches of the peace.
  11. To communicate electrical matter to, as to a coated vial, or an electrical battery.

CHARGE, verb intransitive

To make an onset. Thus Glanville says, like your heroes of antiquity, he charges in iron; and we say, to charge with fixed bayonets. But in this application, the object is understood; to charge the enemy.

    CHARGE, noun

    1. That which is laid on or in; in a general sense, any load or burden.
    2. The quantity of powder, or of powder and ball or shot, used to load a musket, cannon or other like instrument.
    3. An onset; a rushing on an enemy; attack; especially by moving troops with fixed bayonets.
    4. An order, injunction, mandate, command.“Moses gave Joshua a charge” Numbers 27:23“The king gave charge concerning Absalom” 2 Samuel 18:5
    5. That which is enjoined, committed, entrusted or delivered to another, implying care, custody, oversight, or duty to be performed by the person entrusted.“I gave Hanani charge over Jerusalem” Nehemiah 7:2
    6. The person or thing committed to anothers custody, care or management; a trust.
    7. Instructions given by a judge to a jury, or by a bishop to his clergy.
    8. Imputation in a bad sense; accusation.“Lay not this sin to their charge” Acts 7:60
    9. That which constitutes debt, in commercial transactions; an entry of money or the price of goods, on the debit side of an account.
    10. Cost; expense; as, the charges of the war are to be borne by the nation.
    11. Imposition on land or estate; rent, tax, or whatever constitutes a burden or duty.
    12. In military affairs, a signal to attack; as, to sound the charge
    13. The posture of a weapon fitted for an attack or combat.
    14. Among farriers, a preparation of the consistence of a thick decoction, or between an ointment and a plaster, used as a remedy for sprains and inflammations.
    15. In heraldry, that which is borne upon the color; or the figures represented on the escutcheon, by which the bearers are distinguished from one another.
    16. In electrical experiments, a quantity of electrical fluid, communicated to a coated jar, vial or pane of glass.

    Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

    Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.