WATCHER. The OT uses various terms to denote the special office of watchmen. Most such words are simply participial forms of the verbs “to watch” and are tr. “watcher” as in 1 Samuel 14:16, et al. Some are nouns which denote the guards or “watchers” of all Near Eastern towns. Most common is Heb. נֹצֵ֥ר, “guardsman,” cognate to Akkad. maṩṩaru, “a guard” and maṩṩartu, “a night watchman”; it also occurs in other later Sem. dialects. In Job 7:20 God is compared to a “guardian” in His providence and watchfulness in regard to mankind. In Daniel 4:13, 23 the Aram. term, עִיר, H10541, “watchman,” used of the angels is cognate to Heb. עֵֽר, (Gen 38:3 et al.) which is tr. simply as a proper name, ER. In the NT, the Hebraic participial formulations do not exist, and so there are no such terms as “watchman,” which is not equivalent to a separate and discrete noun such as Gr. φύλαξ, G5874, “sentry” (Acts 5:23 et al.). All such terms in the Bible refer either to some situation of the narrative or to the necessity for the believers of either covenant to be watchful in regard to the unexpected working of God.