Nehemiah 13:21

21 And I charged them, and I said to them: Why stay you before the wall? if you do so another time, I will lay hands on you. And from that time they came no more on the sabbath.

Nehemiah 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.

Nehemiah 13:21 In-Context

19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem were at rest on the sabbath day, I spoke: and they shut the gates, and I commanded that they should not open them till after the sabbath: and I set some of my servants at the gates, that none should bring in burthens on the sabbath day.

20 So the merchants, and they that sold all kinds of wares, stayed without Jerusalem, once or twice.

21 And I charged them, and I said to them: Why stay you before the wall? if you do so another time, I will lay hands on you. And from that time they came no more on the sabbath.

22 I spoke also to the Levites that they should be purified, and should come to keep the gates, and to sanctify the sabbath day: for this also remember me, O my God, and spare me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

23 In those days also I saw Jews that married wives, women of Azotus, and of Ammon, and of Moab.