Nehemiah 13:17

17 ¹Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing that you are doing, ²profaning 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 people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.

16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!

17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?

18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."

19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 11
• 2. [Matthew 12:5]