mish.mar denotes detention under custody and, in other settings, an assigned watch or guarded keeping.

The attested uses chiefly concern persons being held under restraint, especially in the Genesis narratives and legal cases. Other contexts place the noun in arrangements of watch, gatekeeping, or guarded responsibility; a smaller group uses it for protective keeping or guarding.

1. Detention under restraint · dominant

   The singular noun occurs where people are placed or remain confined: in Genesis 40:3 the APB renders the clause "He placed them in custody," and Genesis 42:17 similarly says that all were put there for three days. Leviticus 24:12 and Numbers 15:34 place a man there while his case awaits a declaration.

   Genesis 40:3Genesis 40:4Genesis 41:10Genesis 42:17Leviticus 24:12Numbers 15:34
2. Watch or assigned guarding duty · common

   In settings of gates, worship personnel, and city security, the singular noun marks a watch or guarding assignment. In 1 Chronicles 26:16 the APB has "custody close to custody" at a gate, while Nehemiah 7:3 assigns each inhabitant "in his custody" before his house; Nehemiah 12:24 describes "watch opposite watch."

   1 Chronicles 26:16Jeremiah 51:12Nehemiah 12:24Nehemiah 12:25Nehemiah 7:3Nehemiah 13:14
3. Protective keeping or guarding · occasional

   The noun is used for guarding rather than confinement in Job 7:12, where the APB asks whether a guard has been set over the speaker, and in Proverbs 4:23, where the heart is to be watched. Ezekiel 38:7 places the same singular form in the charge to be "a custody" for the gathered assembly.

   Job 7:12Proverbs 4:23Ezekiel 38:7

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the confinement contexts with "custody," while watch contexts appear as "watch," "watches," "guard," or gatekeeping language. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings indicate the clauses' contexts rather than a fixed English equivalent.