Nehemiah 13:17-19

Contemporary English Version

¹⁷ I got angry and said to the leaders of Judah, “This evil you are doing is an insult to the Sabbath! ¹⁸ Didn't God punish us and this city because our ancestors did these very same things? And here you are, about to make God furious again by disgracing the Sabbath!”

¹⁹ I ordered the gates of Jerusalem to be closed on the eve of the Sabbath^[a] and not to be opened until after the Sabbath had ended. Then I put some of my own men in charge of the gates to make certain that nothing was brought in on the Sabbath.