Nehemiah 13:15-22

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions. 13:16 The people from Tyre ¹  who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah – and in Jerusalem, of all places! ²  13:17 So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 13:18 Isn’t this the way your ancestors ³  acted, causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune? And now you are causing even more wrath on Israel, profaning the Sabbath like this!”

13:19 When the evening shadows ⁴  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ⁵  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ⁶  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day. 13:20 The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 13:21 But I warned them and said, ⁷  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ⁸  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ⁹  13:22 Then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

For this please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me in keeping with your great love.

Exodus 20:10

20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it ¹⁰  you shall not do any work, you, ¹¹  or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. ¹² 

Leviticus 23:3

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ¹³  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Deuteronomy 5:12-14

5:12 Be careful to observe ¹⁴  the Sabbath day just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 5:13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 5:14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath ¹⁵  of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, ¹⁶  so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.

Isaiah 58:13-14

58:13 You must ¹⁷  observe the Sabbath ¹⁸ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ¹⁹ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ²⁰ 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ²¹ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ²² 

58:14 Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, ²³ 

and I will give you great prosperity, ²⁴ 

and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” ²⁵ 

Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 17:21-22

17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ²⁷  Do not carry any loads ²⁸  in through ²⁹  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. ³⁰  But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, ³¹  as I commanded your ancestors. ³² 

[13:16]  ¹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[13:16]  ² tn The words “of all places” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to indicate the emphasis on Jerusalem.

[13:18]  ³ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[13:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “caused to stand.”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

[13:21]  ⁹ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.

[20:10]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “on it” has been supplied for clarity.

[20:10]  ¹¹ sn The wife is omitted in the list, not that she was considered unimportant, nor that she was excluded from the rest, but rather in reflecting her high status. She was not man’s servant, not lesser than the man, but included with the man as an equal before God. The “you” of the commandments is addressed to the Israelites individually, male and female, just as God in the Garden of Eden held both the man and the woman responsible for their individual sins (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 567-68).

[20:10]  ¹² sn The Sabbath day was the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant. It required Israel to cease from ordinary labors and devote the day to God. It required Israel to enter into the life of God, to share his Sabbath. It gave them a chance to recall the work of the Creator. But in the NT the apostolic teaching for the Church does not make one day holier than another, but calls for the entire life to be sanctified to God. This teaching is an application of the meaning of entering into the Sabbath of God. The book of Hebrews declares that those who believe in Christ cease from their works and enter into his Sabbath rest. For a Christian keeping Saturday holy is not a requirement from the NT; it may be a good and valuable thing to have a day of rest and refreshment, but it is not a binding law for the Church. The principle of setting aside time to worship and serve the Lord has been carried forward, but the strict regulations have not.

[23:3]  ¹³ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[5:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to make holy,” that is, to put to special use, in this case, to sacred purposes (cf. vv. 13-15).

[5:14]  ¹⁵ tn There is some degree of paronomasia (wordplay) here: “the seventh (הַשְּׁבִיעִי, hashÿvi’i) day is the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat).” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, since “Sabbath” is derived from the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease”).

[5:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in your gates”; NRSV, CEV “in your towns”; TEV “in your country.”

[58:13]  ¹⁷ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ²² tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).

[58:14]  ²³ tn For a parallel use of the phrase “find joy in” (Hitpael of עָנַג [’anag] followed by the preposition עַל [’al]), see Ps 37:4.

[58:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the land.” The statement seems to be an allusion to Deut 32:13, where it is associated, as here, with God’s abundant provision of food.

[58:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I will cause you to eat the inheritance of Jacob your father.” The Hebrew term נַחֲלָה (nakhalah) likely stands by metonymy for the crops that grow on Jacob’s “inheritance” (i.e., the land he inherited as a result of God’s promise).

[58:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” The introductory כִּי (ki) may be asseverative (as reflected in the translation) or causal/explanatory, explaining why the preceding promise will become reality (because it is guaranteed by the divine word).

[17:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Be careful at the risk of your lives.” The expression with the preposition בְּ (bet) is unique. Elsewhere the verb “be careful” is used with the preposition לְ (lamed) in the sense of the reflexive. Hence the word “soul” cannot be simply reflexive here. BDB 1037 s.v. שָׁמַר Niph.1 understands this as a case where the preposition בְּ introduces the cost or price (cf. BDB 90 s.v. בּ III.3.a).

[17:21]  ²⁸ sn Comparison with Neh 13:15-18 suggests that these loads were merchandise or agricultural produce which were being brought in for sale. The loads that were carried out of the houses in the next verse were probably goods for barter.

[17:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “Be careful…by carrying”). This is supported by the next line where only “carry out” of the houses is mentioned.

[17:22]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “fathers.”