1 Kings 2:3

And keep the charge [lit; "watch the watch" ( custodies custodiam Jehovae ) , or, "serve the service." Bähr paraphrases, "be a true watcher in the service of Jehovah." The words are constantly employed to denote a strict performance of the service of the tabernacle or of the duties of the priests and Levites (Le 1 Kings 8:35 ; 1 Kings 18:30 ; Numbers 1:53 ; Numbers 3:7 , Numbers 3:8 , Numbers 3:25 , Numbers 3:28 , Numbers 3:32 , Numbers 3:38 ; Numbers 31:30 ; 1 Chronicles 23:32 , etc.; also Genesis 26:5 ). "The reference," says Rawlinson, "is to the charge given to all the kings in Deuteronomy 17:18-20 ." But there is no necessity for restricting it to that one injunction. What the charge is is explained presently] of the Lord thy God to walk in His ways, to keep [same word] His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies [it is impossible to draw any clear and sharp distinction between these four words, as the older expositors do. "The phrase is derived from the Pentateuch" (Wordsworth). The force of the accumulation of practically synonymous terms is to represent the law in its entirety ( "Die Totalitat des Gesetzes," Keil); cf. Deuteronomy 5:31 , Deuteronomy 8:11 , and especially Psalms 119:1-176 .], that thou mayest prosper. [The marginal rendering, "do wisely," is preferred by some (Keil, e.g. ); but the translation of the text has the authority of Gesenius and others on its side, and gives a better meaning. "The context evidently requires 'prosper' here, as in Joshua 1:7 " (Rawlinson). "That thou mayest … do wisely" is a very lame and impotent conclusion to Joshua 1:3 . We have here an evident reminiscence of Joshua 1:7 ; possibly also of Deuteronomy 29:9 . David was unquestionably well versed in the Scriptures of that age, of which every king was commanded to make a copy.