Yirmeyah 17:21

21 Thus saith Hashem: Be shomer over your nefashot, and bear no massa (burden) on Shabbos, nor bring through the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;

Yirmeyah 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.

Yirmeyah 17:21 In-Context

19 Thus said Hashem unto me; Go and stand in the Sha’ar Bnei HaAm, whereby the melachim of Yehudah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;
20 And say unto them, Hear ye the Devar Hashem, ye melachim of Yehudah, and all Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, that enter in by these she’arim (gates);
21 Thus saith Hashem: Be shomer over your nefashot, and bear no massa (burden) on Shabbos, nor bring through the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;
22 Neither carry forth a massa (burden) out of your batim (houses) on Shabbos, neither do ye any melachah (work), but keep Shabbos set apart as kodesh, just as I commanded Avoteichem.
23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ozen (ear), but made their stubborn neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive musar (discipline).
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.