Jeremiah 17:22-23

17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. ¹  But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, ²  as I commanded your ancestors. ³  17:23 Your ancestors, ⁴  however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused ⁵  to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’

[17:22]  ¹ tn Heb “Do not carry any loads out of your houses on the Sabbath day and do not do any work.” Translating literally might give the wrong impression that they were not to work at all. The phrase “on the Sabbath day” is, of course, intended to qualify both prohibitions.

[17:22]  ² tn Heb “But sanctify [or set apart as sacred] the Sabbath day.” The idea of setting it apart as something sacred to the Lord is implicit in the command. See the explicit statements of this in Exod 20:10; 31:5; 35:2; Lev 24:8. For some readers the idea of treating the Sabbath day as something sacred won’t mean much without spelling the qualification out specifically. Sabbath observance was not just a matter of not working.

[17:22]  ³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[17:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “They.” The antecedent is spelled out to avoid any possible confusion.

[17:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”