Jeremiah 17:21
in Jeremiah 17This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus saith Jehovah, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
KJV
Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
⋯
This verse in Jeremiah 17
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 20 and following) Thus says the Lord: Guard your souls, and do not carry burdens on the Sabbath day, or bring them through the gates of Jerusalem. And do not cast burdens out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and you shall not do any work, and sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not listen, nor inclined their ear, and they stiffened their necks (and what is not found in Hebrew, against their fathers), so that they would not listen to me, and would not receive discipline.
This site's exposition
Go and stand at the gate of the people
on Jeremiah 17:19-27
Jeremiah must stand at the gate the kings of Judah use and preach one commandment. The fathers heard the same command, and “they stiffened their necks”. Obedience would bring kings into a city “inhabited forever”, and disobedience “an unquenchable fire in its gates”.
This site's exposition
Take heed for yourselves
The command concerns loads carried through the city gates on the day of rest. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call it an open insult to God in His own capital. They read the keeping of the Sabbath as a sign of holiness in general, citing Ezekiel 20:12.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The people had asked ( ch. xvi. 10 ), What is our iniquity, and what is our sin? as if they could not be charged with any thing worth speaking of, for which God should enter into judgment with them; their challenge was answered there, but here we have a further reply to it, in which, I.
Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves,....
He refers them to the law, the statute in this case made and provided: "This is no new imposition upon you, but is what I commanded your fathers; it is an ancient law; it was an article of the original contract; nay, it was a command to the patriarchs." II.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden - From this and the following verses we find the ruin of the Jews attributed to the breach of the Sabbath; as this led to a neglect of sacrifice, the ordinances of religion, and all public worship, so it necessarily brought with it all immorality. This breach of the Sabbath was that which let in upon them all the waters of God’s wrath.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Jerusalem--It would have been scandalous anywhere; but in the capital, Jerusalem, it was an open insult to God. Sabbath-hallowing is intended as a symbol of holiness in general (Eze 20:12); therefore much stress is laid on it; the Jews' gross impiety is manifested in their setting God's will at naught, in the case of such an easy and positive command.
How the passage was read
On Jeremiah 17:19-27On Jeremiah 17:19-27
Burdens through the gates
Jeremiah stands in Jerusalem's gates and warns: “bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.” The written Sabbath command says “no work”; this prophetic oracle is the clearest Scripture naming CARRYING as the work in view, and it became the root of the tradition's rule against carrying from one domain to another on the Sabbath, the last of the Mishnah's thirty-nine categories of forbidden labor (Shabbat 7:2). The categories are kept by observant Jews to this day, which is why traditional neighborhoods build an eruv, a boundary that legally merges private domains so families can carry outdoors on the day.
This passage is the live background of John 5:10: “It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.” The objectors are standing on Jeremiah's oracle as the tradition had built on it. The healed man's mat, not his healing, is what the rule could name.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Shabbat 7:2 (the thirty-nine categories; carrying is the last)
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֚ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| הִשָּׁמְר֖וּ | hishameru | take heed | H8104 → | 468 times |
| בְּנַפְשֽׁוֹתֵיכֶ֑ם | benafshoteikhem | to lives your | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וְאַל־ | veal- | and may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּשְׂא֤וּ | tisu | you carry | H5375 → | 656 times |
| מַשָּׂא֙ | masa' | a burden | H4853 → | 66 times |
| בְּי֣וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת | hashabat | the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| וַהֲבֵאתֶ֖ם | vahavetem | and you will bring [it] | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֥י | beshaarei | in [the] gates of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
כֹּ֚הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
הִשָּׁמְר֖וּtake heed
hishameruH8104 →468 times
בְּנַפְשֽׁוֹתֵיכֶ֑םto lives your
benafshoteikhemH5315 →754 times
וְאַל־and may not
veal-H408 →724 times
תִּשְׂא֤וּyou carry
tisuH5375 →656 times
מַשָּׂא֙a burden
masa'H4853 →66 times
בְּי֣וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
הַשַּׁבָּ֔תthe sabbath
hashabatH7676 →110 times
וַהֲבֵאתֶ֖םand you will bring [it]
vahavetemH935 →2568 times
בְּשַׁעֲרֵ֥יin [the] gates of
beshaareiH8179 →374 times
יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃Jerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Deuteronomy 11:19
Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Psalms 78:3–8
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
- Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that…
- Deuteronomy 32:46
he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Through
Deuteronomy 4:23Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
- Matthew 24:4
Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.
- Ezekiel 16:59
For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
- Deuteronomy 4:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
On this chapter
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.