Nehemiah 10:31

31 If foreigners bring grain or anything else to sell to us on the Sabbath or on any other holy day, we will not buy from them. ¹ Every seventh year we will not farm the land, and we will cancel all debts.

Nehemiah 10:31 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 10:31

And if the people of the land bring ware
Any thing to be sold, any sort of goods, that being sold might be taken away, as the word signifies;

or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell;
anything to make food of; wheat or barley, as Aben Ezra interprets it; the same word is rendered corn, (See Gill on Genesis 42:1); to sell which was not lawful on the sabbath day, see ( Amos 8:5 )

that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day;
any festival, as the feast of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles:

and that we would leave the seventh year:
the ground untilled in that year, the vines unpruned, and the fruits of the earth, which sprung of themselves, for the poor to gather, ( Leviticus 25:4-7 ) ,

and the exaction of every debt;
that they would not demand the payment of any debt on the seventh year, as the law required they should not, ( Deuteronomy 15:2 ) .

Nehemiah 10:31 In-Context

29 do hereby join with our leaders in an oath, under penalty of a curse if we break it, that we will live according to God's Law, which God gave through his servant Moses; that we will obey all that the Lord, our Lord, commands us; and that we will keep all his laws and requirements.

30 We will not intermarry with the foreigners living in our land.

31 If foreigners bring grain or anything else to sell to us on the Sabbath or on any other holy day, we will not buy from them. Every seventh year we will not farm the land, and we will cancel all debts.

32 Every year we will each contribute one-eighth of an ounce of silver to help pay the expenses of the Temple.

33 We will provide for the Temple worship the following: the sacred bread, the daily grain offering, the animals to be burned each day as sacrifices, the sacred offerings for Sabbaths, New Moon Festivals, and other festivals, the other sacred offerings, the offerings to take away the sins of Israel, and anything else needed for the Temple.

Cross References

• 1. 10.31 aExodus 23.10, 11;Leviticus 25.1-7; bDeuteronomy 15.1, 2.