Study
Word study

Word study

Hebrew

To keep

שָׁמַרStrong’s H8104

shamar (sha-mar)

Appears in 440 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Shamar is the Hebrew word usually translated “keep”, “take heed” and “keeps”. It appears in 440 verses of the Old Testament.

“And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;”
Daniel 9:4 KJV
Meaning
  1. To keep, guard, observe, give heed(Qal) · (Niphal)
How it's translated
  • to keep 28
  • and you will keep 26
  • you will keep 23
  • take heed 19
  • keep 19
  • and to keep 14
  • keeps 12
  • and they will keep 11

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

Where it's used most
  • Psalms 67
  • Deuteronomy 65
  • Proverbs 29
  • Exodus 24
  • 1 Kings 21
  • Numbers 19

31 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 440 verses, by book
Ezra 1
8:29
Song of Solomon 2
3:35:7
Daniel 1
9:4
Amos 2
1:112:4
Jonah 1
2:8
Micah 2
6:167:5
Zechariah 2
3:711:11
Hebrew dictionary

שָׁמַר shamar · to keep

: obey/observe 1) to keep, guard, observe, give heed 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to keep, have charge of 1a2) to keep, guard, keep watch and ward, protect, save life 1a2a) watch, watchman (participle) 1a3) to watch for, wait for 1a4) to watch, observe 1a5) to keep, retain, treasure up (in memory) 1a6) to keep (within bounds), restrain 1a7) to observe, celebrate, keep (sabbath or covenant or commands), perform (vow) 1a8) to keep, preserve, protect 1a9) to keep, reserve 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be on one's guard, take heed, take care, beware 1b2) to keep oneself, refrain, abstain 1b3) to be kept, be guarded …

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

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

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

KEEP, verb transitive

preterit tense and participle passive kept. [Latin habeo, and capio.]

  1. To hold; to retain in one's power or possession; not to lose or part with; as, to keep a house or a farm; to keep any thing in the memory, mind or heart.
  2. To have in custody for security or preservation.
  3. To preserve; to retain.
  4. To preserve from falling or from danger; to protect; to guard or sustain.“And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee” Genesis 28:15
All definitions and other forms of “keep”
  1. To hold or restrain from departure; to detain.
  2. To tend; to have the care of.“And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it” Genesis 2:15
  3. To tend; to feed; to pasture; as, to keep a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle in a yard or in a field.
  4. To preserve in any tenor or state. keep a stiff rein.
  5. To regard; to attend to.
  6. To hold in any state; as, to keep in order.
  7. To continue any state, course or action; as, to keep silence; to keep the same road or the same pace; to keep reading or talking; to keep a given distance.
  8. To practice; to do or perform; to obey; to observe in practice; not to neglect or violate; as, to keep the laws, statutes or commandments of God.
  9. To fulfill; to perform; as, to keep one's word, promise or covenant.
  10. To practice; to use habitually; as, to keep bad hours.
  11. To copy carefully.
  12. To observe or solemnize.
  13. To board; to maintain; to supply with necessaries of life.
  14. To have in the house; to entertain; as, to keep lodgers.
  15. To maintain; not to intermit; as, to keep watch or guard.
  16. To hold in one's own bosom; to confine to one's own knowledge; not to disclose or communicate to others; not to betray; as, to keep a secret; to keep one's own counsel.
  17. To have in pay; as, to keep a servant.“I will keep nothing back from you” Jeremiah 42:4
  18. To restrain;; to prevent from advancing.“KEEP back thy servant also from presumptuous sins” Psalms 19:13
  19. To reserve; to withhold; not to deliver. Acts 5:3
  20. To conceal; not to tell or disclose.
  21. To restrain; to curb.
  22. To maintain; to continue; to hinder from ceasing.
  23. To remain in the house; to be confined.

KEEP, verb intransitive

To remain in any state; as, to keep at a distance; to keep aloft; to keep near; to keep in the house; to keep before or behind; to keep in favor; to keep out of company, or out of reach.

  1. To last; to endure; not to perish or be impaired.
  2. To lodge; to dwell; to reside for a time.

KEEP, noun

Custody; guard. [Little used.]

  1. Colloquially, case; condition; as in good keep
  2. Guardianship; restraint. [Little used.]
  3. A place of confinement; in old castles, the dungeon.

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.