Jeremiah 17:21

21 This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.

Jeremiah 17:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 17:21

Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves
That ye sin not against the Lord, by breaking the sabbath, and so bring wrath and ruin upon yourselves: or "to your souls" F1; to the inward frame of them, that they be in disposition for the work of that day; and that they be wholly engaged therein, even all the powers and faculties of them; and that they be not taken up in thoughts and cares about other things: and bear no burden on the sabbath day;
as no worldly thoughts and cares should, cumber the mind, and lie heavy thereon, to the interruption of spiritual exercises of religion; so neither should any weight or burden be borne by the body, or carried from place to place; as not by themselves, so neither by their servants, nor by their cattle, nor in carts and wagons, nor by any instrument whatever; in short, all servile work was forbidden: nor bring [it] in by the gates of Jerusalem;
to be unloaded and sold there, as wine, grapes, figs, and fish, were, in the times of Nehemiah, ( Nehemiah 13:15 Nehemiah 13:16 Nehemiah 13:19 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Mkytwvpnb) "in animabus vestris", Calvin, Montanus, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 17:21 In-Context

19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates.
20 Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and all you people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem.
21 This is what the LORD says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.
22 Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,
23 but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept my discipline.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.