He commanded them, saying, “This is what you must do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king’s house;
Parallel translations
- KJV And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house;
- BSB and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall guard the royal palace,
- NKJV Then he commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall do: one-third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath shall be keeping watch over the king’s house,
- NASB And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you, who come in on the Sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house
- NLT Jehoiada told them, “This is what you must do. A third of you who are on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the royal palace itself.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jehoiada assigns one division to guard the royal palace on the Sabbath. The careful plan begins with detailed instructions.
Overview
The priest organizes the guards by their Sabbath rotations to protect the boy king. His precise arrangements show wisdom and order in carrying out God's purpose. Even the timing around the Sabbath duties is used to shield the heir of David, illustrating providence working through prudent planning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Chr 9:25Their brothers, in their villages, were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them:
- Ezek 44:2–3Yahweh said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.
- 2 Kgs 11:19He took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from Yahweh’s house, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. He sat on the throne of the kings.
- Jer 26:10When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to Yahweh’s house; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house.
- Ezek 46:2–3The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.
- 1 Chr 23:3–6The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.
- Luke 1:8–9Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division,
- 2 Kgs 16:18He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry outside to Yahweh’s house, because of the king of Assyria.
- 1 Kgs 10:5the food of his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his officials, their clothing, his cup bearers, and his ascent by which he went up to Yahweh’s house; there was no more spirit in her.
- 1 Chr 23:32and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of Yahweh’s house.
- 1 Chr 24:3–6David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service.
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 11:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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