2 Kings 11:5
New International Version
He commanded them, saying, “This is what you are to do: You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath—a third of you guarding the royal palace,

New Living Translation
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.

English Standard Version
And he commanded them, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house

Berean Standard Bible
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,

King James Bible
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;

New King James Version
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,

New American Standard Bible
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

NASB 1995
He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, who come in on the sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house

NASB 1977
And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, who come in on the sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house

Legacy Standard Bible
And he commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: one-third of you, who come in on the sabbath and keep watch over the king’s house

Amplified Bible
He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you who come in [reporting for duty] on the Sabbath shall keep watch over the king’s house

Christian Standard Bible
and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to provide protection for the king’s palace.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: a third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to provide protection for the king’s palace.

American Standard Version
And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he commanded them and said to them: “This is the matter that you shall do: a third of you in entering the Sabbath shall be keeping watch of the house of the King

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And charged them, saying, This is the thing which ye shall do.

Contemporary English Version
and said to them: Here's what I want you to do. Three of your guard units will be on duty on the Sabbath. I want one unit to guard the palace.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he commanded them, saying: This is the thing that you must do:

English Revised Version
And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He ordered them, "This is what you must do: One third of you, those who are on duty on the day of worship, must guard the royal palace.

Good News Translation
and gave them the following orders: "When you come on duty on the Sabbath, one third of you are to guard the palace;

International Standard Version
He ordered them: "Here's what we'll do: A third of you will enter here on this coming Sabbath dressed as guardians of the watch for the king's palace,

JPS Tanakh 1917
And he commanded them, saying: 'This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, that come in on the sabbath, and that keep the watch of the king's house--

Literal Standard Version
and commands them, saying, “This [is] the thing that you do; the third of you [are] going in on the Sabbath, and keepers of the charge of the house of the king,

Majority Standard Bible
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,

New American Bible
He gave them these orders: “This is what you must do: one third of you who come on duty on the sabbath shall guard the king’s house;

NET Bible
He ordered them, "This is what you must do. One third of the unit that is on duty during the Sabbath will guard the royal palace.

New Revised Standard Version
He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the sabbath and guard the king’s house

New Heart English Bible
He commanded them, saying, "This is the thing that you shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king's house;

Webster's Bible Translation
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;

World English Bible
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;

Young's Literal Translation
and commandeth them, saying, 'This is the thing that ye do; The third of you are going in on the sabbath, and keepers of the charge of the house of the king,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Joash Anointed King in Judah
4Then in the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards, and had them brought into the house of the LORD. There he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son 5and 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, 6a third shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns guarding the temple—…

Cross References
2 Kings 11:6
a third shall be at the gate of Sur, and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns guarding the temple--

1 Chronicles 9:25
Their relatives came from their villages at fixed times to serve with them for seven-day periods.


Treasury of Scripture

And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that you 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;

that enter

1 Chronicles 9:25
And their brethren, which were in their villages, were to come after seven days from time to time with them.

1 Chronicles 23:3-6,32
Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand…

1 Chronicles 24:3-6
And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service…

the watch

2 Kings 11:19
And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings.

2 Kings 16:18
And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria.

1 Kings 10:5
And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

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Charge Commanded Commandeth Companies Duty Enter Guard Guarding House Keepers King's Palace Part Royal Sabbath Third Three Watch
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Charge Commanded Commandeth Companies Duty Enter Guard Guarding House Keepers King's Palace Part Royal Sabbath Third Three Watch
2 Kings 11
1. Jehoash, being saved by Jehosheba his aunt from Athaliah's massacre,
3. is hidden six years in the house of God
13. Jehoiada, giving order to the captains, in the seventh year anoints him king
17. Jehoiada restores the worship of God














(5, 6) Three companies of the guards to be stationed at the three approaches to the palace.

(5) A third part of you . . . king's house.--Rather, the third of you who come in on the Sabbath shall keep the ward of the king's house. (Reading w'sh?m'r-, as in 2Kings 11:7.) The troops of the royal guard regularly succeeded each other on duty just as they do in modern European capitals. That the Sabbath was the day on which they relieved each other is known only from this passage; but the priestly and Levitical guilds did the same, and their organisation in many ways resembled that of an army.

The watch of the king's house.--There were two places to be occupied for the success of the present movement--viz., the royal palace and the Temple, "the king's house" and "the house of the Lord." In the former was Athaliah, the usurping queen, whose movements must be closely watched, and whose adherents must be prevented from occupying and defending the palace; in the latter, the young heir to the throne, who must be protected from attack. That "the king's house" here means the palace proper is evident from 2Kings 11:16; 2Kings 11:19, and, indeed, from the whole narrative. The LXX. adds, "at the entry" (?? ?? ??????)--i.e., the grand entrance to the palace itself. This is at least a correct gloss, and may be part of the original text.

Verse 5. - And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do. It is evident, from 2 Chronicles and from Josephus, that a considerable interval of time separates the events of ver. 5 from those of ver. 4. The immediate arrangement made between Jehoiada and the centurions was that they should "go throughout the whole land" (Josephus, 'Ant. Jud.,' 9:7. § 2), visit "all the cities of Judah" (2 Chronicles 23:2), and gather out of them a strong force of Levites and priests (Josephus), together with a certain number of other representative Israelites, which force they should bring with them to Jerusalem, and place at his disposal. To accomplish this must have taken some weeks. When the force had arrived, Jehoiada summoned it to meet him in the courts of the temple, and swore it to a similar covenant to that which he had made with the centurions. He then bided his time, completed his arrangements, utilized the store of arms laid up in the temple armory (ver. 10), and finally gave two charges - one to the centurions, which is given here (vers. 5-8), and the other to the force collected from the cities of Judah, which is given in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 23:4-7). The orders given to the two forces were very similar, but not identical. A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath. The royal body-guard consisted of five divisions, each probably of a hundred men, and each commanded by its own captain (2 Chronicles 23:1). It was usual on the sabbath for three divisions out of the five to mount guard at the royal palace, while two were engaged outside, keeping order in the city, and especially at the temple. We do not know the ordinary disposition of the guard, either inside or outside the palace. On this occasion Jehoiada commanded that the palace-guard should be disposed as follows: one division at the palace proper, in the courts and halls and antechambers; a second at one of the issues from the palace, known as "the gate of Sur;" and a third at an issue called "the gate of the guard," which was certainly towards the east, where the palace fronted the temple. The object was to secure the palace, but not to prevent the queen from leaving it. Shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house; i.e. of the royal palace.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
and commanded them,
וַיְצַוֵּ֣ם (way·ṣaw·wêm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 6680: To lay charge (upon), give charge (to), command, order

“This
זֶ֥ה (zeh)
Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

is what
אֲשֶׁ֣ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

you are to do:
תַּעֲשׂ֑וּן (ta·‘ă·śūn)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 6213: To do, make

A third
הַשְּׁלִשִׁ֤ית (haš·šə·li·šîṯ)
Article | Number - ordinal feminine singular
Strong's 7992: Third, feminine a, third, a third, a third-story cell)

of you
מִכֶּם֙ (mik·kem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's 4480: A part of, from, out of

who come on duty
בָּאֵ֣י (bā·’ê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

on the Sabbath
הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת (haš·šab·bāṯ)
Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 7676: Intermission, the Sabbath

shall guard
וְשֹׁ֣מְרֵ֔י (wə·šō·mə·rê)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8104: To hedge about, guard, to protect, attend to

the royal
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ (ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

palace,
בֵּ֥ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house


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OT History: 2 Kings 11:5 He commanded them saying This (2Ki iiKi ii ki 2 kg 2kg)
2 Kings 11:4
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