Nehemiah 13:17

17 Then 1I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?

Nehemiah 13:17 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:17

Then I contended with the nobles
The rulers of the city, the civil magistrates, sharply reproved them for their neglect of duty:

and said unto them, what evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the
sabbath day?
by suffering servile works to be done in it, and things sold on it.

Nehemiah 13:17 In-Context

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food.
16 Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.
17 Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day?
18 "Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath."
19 It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Nehemiah 13:11, 25

Footnotes 2

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