Nehemiah 13:20 Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.

◄ Nehemiah 13:20 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.

English Standard Version
Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

New American Standard Bible
Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.

King James Bible
So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,

International Standard Version
As a result, the merchants and sellers of all sorts of goods remained outside Jerusalem a couple of times.

American Standard Version
So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

Douay-Rheims Bible
So the merchants, and they that sold all kinds of wares, stayed without Jerusalem once or twice.

Darby Bible Translation
And the dealers and sellers of all kind of ware passed the night without Jerusalem once or twice.

Young's Literal Translation
And they lodge -- the merchants and sellers of all ware -- at the outside of Jerusalem, once or twice,

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

13:15-22 The keeping holy the Lord's day forms an important object for their attention who would promote true godliness. Religion never prospers while sabbaths are trodden under foot. No wonder there was a general decay of religion, and corruption of manners among the Jews, when they forsook the sanctuary and profaned the sabbath. Those little consider what an evil they do, who profane the sabbath. We must answer for the sins others are led to commit by our example. Nehemiah charges it on them as an evil thing, for so it is, proceeding from contempt of God and our own souls. He shows that sabbath-breaking was one of the sins for which God had brought judgments upon them; and if they did not take warning, but returned to the same sins again, they had to expect further judgments. The courage, zeal, and prudence of Nehemiah in this matter, are recorded for us to do likewise; and we have reason to think, that the cure he wrought was lasting. He felt and confessed himself a sinner, who could demand nothing from God as justice, when he thus cried unto him for mercy.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Ne 13:15-31. The Violation of the Sabbath.

15-22. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath—The cessation of the temple services had been necessarily followed by a public profanation of the Sabbath, and this had gone so far that labor was carried on in the fields, and fish brought to the markets on the sacred day. Nehemiah took the decisive step of ordering the city gates to be shut, and not to be opened, till the Sabbath was past; and in order to ensure the faithful execution of this order, he stationed some of his own servants as guards, to prevent the introduction of any commodities on that day. On the merchants and various dealers finding admission denied them, they set up booths outside the walls, in hopes of still driving a traffic with the peasantry; but the governor threatened, if they continued, to adopt violent measures for their removal. For this purpose a body of Levites was stationed as sentinels at the gate, with discretionary powers to protect the sanctification of the Sabbath.