Actually, "alive" is the Hebrew word there, with the "keep" being implied. Here's a link to the Blue Letter Bible page on it. It links to all the other verses that use the same word. One, for example, is that the midwives in Egypt refused the order to kill the male babies, but rather kept them alive.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lex...2421&t=KJV
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lex...2421&t=KJV