Nehemiah 13:16

16 and I testified in the day of their sale. Also their dwelt in it bringing fish, and selling every merchandise to the children of Juda and in Jerusalem on the sabbath.

Nehemiah 13:16 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:16

There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish
From Tyre and Zidon, and the parts adjacent: these they brought from Joppa, and from thence to Jerusalem, and had houses or lodgings near the fish gate or fish market, where they sold them:

and all manner of ware;
or merchandise, which, being a trading city, they had from all nations:

and sold on the sabbath day unto the children of Judah, and in
Jerusalem;
or even in Jerusalem, the holy city, where stood the temple, and where the worship of God was kept, and where the magistrates lived, who should have been terrors to evildoers: indeed, the law of the sabbath was not binding on these Tyrians, but then they tempted the Jews to break it, by bringing their ware to sell.

Nehemiah 13:16 In-Context

14 Remember me, O God, in this, and let not my kindness be forgotten which I have wrought in the house of the Lord God.

15 In those days I saw in Juda treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and carrying sheaves, and loading asses with both wine, and grapes, and figs, and every burden, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the sabbath-day:

16 and I testified in the day of their sale. Also their dwelt in it bringing fish, and selling every merchandise to the children of Juda and in Jerusalem on the sabbath.

17 And I strove with the free children of Juda, and said to them, What this evil thing which ye do, and profane the sabbath-day?

18 Did not your fathers thus, and our God brought upon them and upon us and upon this city all these evils? and do ye bring additional wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath?