שָׁמַר

But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it.

So Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and post men there to guard them.

…and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.

All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God.

But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left.

Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.

For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.

…and when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us how to get into the city, and we will treat you kindly.”

In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD by walking in it as their fathers did.”

Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.

She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

As Hannah kept on praying before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.

So the cook picked up the leg and what was attached to it and set it before Saul. Then Samuel said, “Here is what was kept back. It was set apart for you. Eat, for it has been kept for you for this occasion, from the time I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Saul dined with Samuel that day.

“You have acted foolishly,” Samuel declared. “You have not kept the command that the LORD your God gave you; if you had, the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.

But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the LORD.”

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.

Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.

…so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.

Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

So David said to Abner, “You are a man, aren’t you? And who in Israel is your equal? Why then did you not protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him?

This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”

David replied, “Then you will come to know what your servant can do.” “Very well,” said Achish. “I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us.

So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.

Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

The man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels of silver were weighed out into my hands, I would not raise my hand against the son of the king. For we heard the king command you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’

When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, for Amasa was dead. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.

And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity.

You have delivered me from the strife of my people; You have preserved me as the head of nations; a people I had not known shall serve me.

Is not my house right with God? For He has established with me an everlasting covenant, ordered and secured in every part. Will He not bring about my full salvation and my every desire?

And keep the charge of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn,

…and so that the LORD may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

So why have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the command that I gave you?”

Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”

“As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.

…and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.