Nehemiah 10:31

31 Also the peoples of the land, that bring in things set to sale, and all things to use, by the day of sabbath, for to sell, we shall not take of them in the sabbath, and in a day hallowed; and we shall leave (the land) without tilth and sowing and gathering, the seventh year, and the asking of all hand, that is, (to) release debts, and (to) deliver (our) Hebrew servants. (And if the peoples of the land bring in food, and things to sell, on the Sabbath day, we shall not buy anything from them on the Sabbath, or on any other holy day. And in the seventh year, we shall leave the land without tilth, or sowing, or gathering, and we shall leave off asking for repayment of all manner of debt, that is, we shall discharge all debts, and also set free our Hebrew slaves.)

Nehemiah 10:31 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 10:31

And if the people of the land bring ware
Any thing to be sold, any sort of goods, that being sold might be taken away, as the word signifies;

or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell;
anything to make food of; wheat or barley, as Aben Ezra interprets it; the same word is rendered corn, (See Gill on Genesis 42:1); to sell which was not lawful on the sabbath day, see ( Amos 8:5 )

that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day;
any festival, as the feast of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles:

and that we would leave the seventh year:
the ground untilled in that year, the vines unpruned, and the fruits of the earth, which sprung of themselves, for the poor to gather, ( Leviticus 25:4-7 ) ,

and the exaction of every debt;
that they would not demand the payment of any debt on the seventh year, as the law required they should not, ( Deuteronomy 15:2 ) .

Nehemiah 10:31 In-Context

29 promising for their brethren, the principal men of them, and they that came thither to promise, and to swear, that they should go in the law of the Lord, which he gave by the hand of Moses, his servant, and that they should do and keep all the behests of the Lord our God, and his dooms, and his ceremonies; (promise with their kinsmen, yea, their leaders, and swear, to go in the Law of the Lord, which he gave by the hand of his servant Moses, and to keep and to obey all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgements, and his statutes;)
30 and that we should not give our daughters to the people of the land, and that we should not take their daughters to our sons. (and that we shall not give our daughters to be wives for the peoples of the land, and that we shall not take their daughters as wives for our sons.)
31 Also the peoples of the land, that bring in things set to sale, and all things to use, by the day of sabbath, for to sell, we shall not take of them in the sabbath, and in a day hallowed; and we shall leave (the land) without tilth and sowing and gathering, the seventh year, and the asking of all hand, that is, (to) release debts, and (to) deliver (our) Hebrew servants. (And if the peoples of the land bring in food, and things to sell, on the Sabbath day, we shall not buy anything from them on the Sabbath, or on any other holy day. And in the seventh year, we shall leave the land without tilth, or sowing, or gathering, and we shall leave off asking for repayment of all manner of debt, that is, we shall discharge all debts, and also set free our Hebrew slaves.)
32 And also we shall ordain upon us commandments, that by each year we give the third part of a shekel to the work of the Lord our God, (And we shall ordain the command upon us, that each year we give the third part of a shekel to the work of the Lord our God,)
33 to the loaves of setting forth, and to the everlasting sacrifice, and into burnt sacrifice everlasting, in sabbaths, in calends, that is, (the) beginnings of months, in solemnities, in hallowed days, and for sin, that prayer be made for Israel, and into all the uses of the house of our God. (for the loaves of setting forth, that is, the loaves of proposition, and the everlasting offering, and the everlasting burnt sacrifice, for the Sabbaths, and the calends, that is, the beginning of months, and the Feasts, or the Festivals, and the holy gifts, and the sin offerings, to make amends for Israel, and for all the needs in the House of our God.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.