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Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary
Strong's #8104 - שָׁמַר
1) to keep, guard, observe, give heed
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
1b1) to be on one’s guard, take heed, take care, beware
1b2) to keep oneself, refrain, abstain
1b3) to be kept, be guarded
1c) (Piel) to keep, pay heed
1d) (Hithpael) to keep oneself from
2853) rms (סהמר ShMR) AC: Guard CO: Brier AB: Custody: A close watching of something for guarding or protecting. Shepherds constructed corrals of briers at night to protect the flock from predators. [from: nx- from the thorns used in constructing a corral]
V) rms (סהמר ShMR) - Guard: To watch over or guard in the sense of preserving or protecting. KJV (468): (vf: Paal, Niphal, Hitpael, Piel, Participle) keep, observe, heed, keeper, preserve, beware, mark, watchman, wait, watch, regard, save - Strongs: H8104 (שָׁמַר)
bm) rims (סהמיר ShMYR) - I. Brier:Used to construct a corral to protect the flock at night. II. Shamiyr:An unknown sharp stone such as flint or obsidian. KJV (11): brier, adamant, diamond - Strongs: H8068 (שָׁמִיר)
Jeff Benner, Ancient Hebrew Research Center Used by permission of the author.
שָׁמַר fut. יִשְׁמֹר
(1) to keep, to watch, to guard
(a) in a narrower sense, as a garden, Genesis 2:15, 3:24 a flock, Genesis 30:31 a house, Ecclesiastes 12:3. Part. שֹׁמֵר subst. a watchman Canticles 3:3 of cattle, i.e. a shepherd, 1 Samuel 17:20 trop. used of prophets, Isaiah 21:11, 62:6, compare צֹפִים.
(b) in a wider sense, to keep safe, to preserve, followed by acc. Job 2:6; Proverbs 13:3 בְּ 2 Samuel 18:12 אֶל 1 Samuel 26:15 עַל 1 Samuel 26:16; Proverbs 6:22 often used of God as guarding men, followed by an acc. Genesis 28:15, 20 Genesis 28:20; Psalms 12:8, 16:1 25:20 followed by מִן to guard from any thing, Psalms 121:7, 140:5 141:9.
(2) to keep, to reserve, Exodus 22:6 also to preserve, as loving-kindness, Daniel 9:4; Nehemiah 9:32, anger, Amos 1:11, עֶבְרָתוֹ שְׁמָרָה נֶצַח “(Edom) kept his anger continually;” (שְׁמָֽרָה with these vowels and the accent on the penultima is masc. with ה parag.), and without the acc. עֶבְרָה or אַף (like נָטַר No. 2), Jeremiah 3:5, אִם־יִשְׁמֹר לָנֶצַח “will he continually keep” sc. his anger? Specially to keep in mind and memory (φυλάττεσθαί τι), Genesis 37:11; Psalms 130:3.-Without acc. and with suff. of pers. Job 10:14, וּשְׁמַרְתָּנִי “thou wilt keep (punishment) for me,” du gedachteft (es) mir.
(3) to observe, to attend to any thing, followed by an acc. 1 Samuel 1:12; Psalms 17:4, “I have observed the ways of the violent man,” i.e. that I might avoid them (this phrase is used in another sense, Proverbs 2:20); without this, Isaiah 42:20 followed by עַל Job 14:16 followed by אֶל Psalms 59:10. Sometimes used in a bad sense, to watch narrowly (etwas belauern), to lie in wait for, followed by an acc. Job 13:27, 33:11 Psalms 56:7, 71:10. שָׁמַר עִיר to observe, i.e. to besiege a city, 2 Samuel 11:16, compare נָצַר No. 5.
(4) to keep, to observe, as a covenant, Genesis 17:9, 10 Genesis 17:10 the commandments of God, 1 Kings 11:10 the sabbath, Isaiah 56:2, Isaiah 56:6 a promise, 1 Kings 3:6, 8:24. Followed by a gerund, to seek to do any thing, Numbers 23:12; 2 Kings 10:31.
(5) to honour, to worship, as God, Hosea 4:10, idols, Psalms 31:7 a master, Proverbs 27:18. Compare Virg. Georg. iv. 212, “Prœterea regem non sic Ægyptus, et ingens Lydia … … observant.”
(6) recipr. i.q. Niphal and שָׁמַר נַפְשׁוֹ (Deuteronomy 4:9), to abstain oneself from any thing, followed by מִן Joshua 6:18.
(1) pass. to be kept, preserved, Psalms 37:28.
(2) to abstain oneself from any thing (compare Kal No. 6), followed by מִן Deuteronomy 23:10; Judges 13:13; 1 Samuel 21:5.
(3) to beware of any thing, followed by מִן Jeremiah 9:3 מִפְּנֵי Exodus 23:21 בְּ 2 Samuel 20:10 followed by inf. Exodus 19:12, “take heed to yourselves to ascend the mountain,” i.e. that ye do not ascend; also פֶּן (lest) followed by an entire sentence, Genesis 24:6, 31:24, 29 Genesis 31:29; Deuteronomy 4:15, 11:16 (the imperative having sometimes added the pronoun pleon. לְךָ Gen. Ex. locc. citt.). Sometimes, to make the prohibition more forcible, there is added to the verb of warning the expression לְנַפְשְׁךָ, בְּנַפְשְׁךָ by thy life (Germ. bey Leibe nicht), which does not depend on the verb נִשְׁמַר, Deuteronomy 4:15, 16, נִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד לְנַפְשׁוֹתֵיכֶם פֶּן תַּשְׁחִיתוּ “take heed diligently, as ye love your life, not to act wickedly,” etc.; Jeremiah 17:21, הִשָּֽׁמְרוּ בְּנַפְשׁתֵיכֶם וְאַל תִּשְּׂאוּ “take heed as ye value your life, not to carry;” Joshua 23:11. Once followed by a gerund, to care for something, to take heed to do something, Deuteronomy 24:8, הִשָּׁמֶר … לִשְׁמֹר מְאֹד וְלַעֲשׂוֹת “take heed to observe diligently and do,” etc.
Piel, i.q. Kal No. 5, to worship (an idol), Jonah 2:9.
(1) i.q. Kal No. 4, prop. to observe for oneself, Micah 6:16.
(2) to take heed to oneself, followed by מִן Psalms 18:24.
Derivatives, שֶׁמֶר-שִׁמְרָת, אַשְׁמֻרָה, מִשְׁמָר, מִשְׁמֶרֶת, and pr.n. יִשְׁמְרַי.
שָׁמַר i.q. סָמַר, שָׁמַר Ch. Pa. סַמֵּר to fasten with nails; whence שָׁמִיר a thorn, a point. Perhaps the two significations (No. I., II.) may be reconciled from the sense of guarding, coming from that of shutting up, making fast with nails.