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Nehemiah 13:17

in Nehemiah 13

Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

KJV

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

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This verse in Nehemiah 13

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
Then I contended with the nobles,.... The rulers of the city, the civil magistrates, sharply reproved them for their neglect of duty: and said unto them, what evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? by suffering servile works to be done in it, and things sold on it.

This site's exposition

I rebuked the nobles of Judah

on Nehemiah 13:17-18

Nehemiah confronts the nobles, asking "What is this evil you are doing" in profaning the Sabbath. "Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city?" Sabbath breaking now is "rekindling His wrath against Israel."

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Nobles - Their chief men and rulers; whom he charges with this sin, because though others did it, it was by their countenance or connivance: probably too by their example.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

We must be responsible for the sins which others are led to commit by our example. (2.) He charges it upon them as an evil thing, for so it is, proceeding from a great contempt of God and our own souls.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

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.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I contended with the nobles - These evils took place through their negligence; and this I proved before them.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וָאָרִ֕יבָהand I contended !

    vaarivahH7378 →67 times

  • אֵ֖תwith

    ʾetH854 →929 times

  • חֹרֵ֣י[the] nobles of

    choreiH2715 →13 times

  • יְהוּדָ֑הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • וָאֹמְרָ֣הand I said !

    vaomerahH559 →5305 times

  • לָהֶ֗םto them

    lahem

  • מָֽה־what?

    mah-H4100 →752 times

  • הַדָּבָ֨ר[is] the thing

    hadavarH1697 →1440 times

  • הָרָ֤ע<the> evil

    hara'H7451 →662 times

  • הַזֶּה֙<the> this

    hazehH2088 →1180 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אַתֶּ֣םyou

    ʾatemH859 →1094 times

  • עֹשִׂ֔ים[are] doing

    ʾosimH6213 →2628 times

  • וּֽמְחַלְּלִ֖יםand [are] profaning

    umechalelimH2490 →143 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • י֥וֹם[the] day of

    yomH3117 →2304 times

  • הַשַּׁבָּֽת׃the sabbath

    hashabatH7676 →110 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

15 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Nehemiah 13:11So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts,4 worksNehemiah 13:25I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!4 worksIsaiah 56:2Blessed 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.”3 worksMicah 3:9Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,2 worksJeremiah 13:18Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”2 worksProverbs 28:4Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.2 works
The other 9 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 1:10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!2 worksMicah 3:1Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?2 worksPsalms 82:1–2God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:2 worksJeremiah 22:2–23saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you and your officials and your people who enter these gates.2 worksJeremiah 5:5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.2 worksNehemiah 5:7and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them2 worksProverbs 24:25but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them.2 worksEzra 9:2Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!”1 worksMatthew 12:5Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent?0 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Proverbs 28:4

    Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

    it leads to

    • Romans 1:32

      Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

    • Ephesians 5:11

      Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

    • Matthew 14:4

      because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

    • Matthew 3:7

      But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

  • Through

    Jeremiah 13:18

    Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 22:26

      I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.

    • 2 Kings 24:12

      Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him…

    • 2 Kings 24:15

      Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

    • 2 Chronicles 33:19

      His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled…

Where this verse is studied

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah: the study guide →Read Nehemiah 13 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Nehemiah 13 →