Nechemyah 13:21

21 Then I warned them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on Shabbos.

Nechemyah 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:21

Then I testified against them
Against their continuance there, and threatened them, and called heaven and earth to witness what he would do to them, if they did not depart:

why lodge ye about the wall?
of the city, waiting an opportunity to get in, and tempting the Jews to come out and buy their ware:

if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you;
beat them, or slay them, at least imprison them:

from that time forth came they no more on the sabbath;
finding there was no likelihood of getting into the city, and that they were liable to be taken up and punished.

Nechemyah 13:21 In-Context

19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Yerushalayim began to be dark before Shabbos, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after Shabbos, and some of my own men set I at the gates, that there should no massa (burden) be brought in on Shabbos.

20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of merchandise lodged outside Yerushalayim.

21 Then I warned them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on Shabbos.

22 And I commanded the Levi’im that they should make themselves tahor, and that they should come and be shomer over the gates, to set apart as kodesh Shabbos. Remember me, O Elohai, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy.

23 In those days also saw I Yehudim that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moav,