Jeremiah 17:22
in Jeremiah 17You must not carry a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day, but you must keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
KJV
Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
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This verse in Jeremiah 17
Commentary
6 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
You must not carry a load
The ban reaches past the gates into every house. Matthew Henry calls the Sabbath an ancient law commanded to their forefathers, part of the original covenant, and given even to the patriarchs. Rest from work was to begin at home before it reached the city.
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.
Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day,....
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.
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
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תוֹצִ֨יאוּ | totziu | you must bring out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מַשָּׂ֤א | masa' | a burden | H4853 → | 66 times |
| מִבָּֽתֵּיכֶם֙ | mibateikhem | from houses your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| בְּי֣וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת | hashabat | the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְלָאכָ֖ה | melakhah | work | H4399 → | 167 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַֽעֲשׂ֑וּ | taasu | you must do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם֙ | vekidashtem | and you will set apart as holy | H6942 → | 171 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| י֣וֹם | yom | [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת | hashabat | the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| צִוִּ֖יתִי | tziviti | I commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲבוֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ | ʾavoteikhem | ancestors your | H1 → | 1212 times |
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
תוֹצִ֨יאוּyou must bring out
totziuH3318 →1067 times
מַשָּׂ֤אa burden
masa'H4853 →66 times
מִבָּֽתֵּיכֶם֙from houses your
mibateikhemH1004 →2046 times
בְּי֣וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
הַשַּׁבָּ֔תthe sabbath
hashabatH7676 →110 times
וְכָל־and any
vekholH3605 →5413 times
מְלָאכָ֖הwork
melakhahH4399 →167 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תַֽעֲשׂ֑וּyou must do
taasuH6213 →2628 times
וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם֙and you will set apart as holy
vekidashtemH6942 →171 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
י֣וֹם[the] day of
yomH3117 →2304 times
הַשַּׁבָּ֔תthe sabbath
hashabatH7676 →110 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
צִוִּ֖יתִיI commanded
tzivitiH6680 →494 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֲבוֹתֵיכֶֽם׃ancestors your
ʾavoteikhemH1 →1212 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
Isaiah 58:13If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:21–27
This 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.
- Psalms 92:1–2
It is good to praise the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
- Isaiah 56:2–6
Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
- Nehemiah 13:15–22
In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being…
- Revelation 1:10
On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
- Jeremiah 17:21–27
Through
Ezekiel 20:12I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:20
Keep My Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us, so that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’
- Ezekiel 37:28
Then the nations will know that I the LORD sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is among them forever.’”
- Ezekiel 20:20
Through
Exodus 23:12For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be…
it leads to
- Luke 13:14
But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on…
- Luke 13:14
Where this verse is studied
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and 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.