Nehemiah 13:21

Neh 13:21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do [so] again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no [more] on the sabbath.

Ver. 21. Why lodge ye about the wall?] His care was also lest God should be dishonoured in the suburbs. A little fire warms but a little way off, when a great one casteth about its heat far and near. He feared also lest those within the walls, seeing them, might be tempted to wish themselves with them; as when Sulla, the Roman, lay before the walls of Athens, the citizens’ minds were with him, though their bodies were kept from him.

I will lay hands on you] I will lay you fast enough: be packing, therefore. The best way to be rid of sin is to threaten it, punish it, by the practice of mortification, to handle it roughly. We are not debtors to the flesh, Rom 8:12. We owe it nothing but stripes, nothing but the blue eye St Paul gave it, 1Co 9:27, υπωπιαζω.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 21. I will lay hands on you] I will imprison every man of you. This had the desired effect; they came no more.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Why lodge ye about the wall?] R.V. marg. ‘Heb. before’, LXX. ἀπέναντι, Vulg. ‘ex adverso.’ Nehemiah, in his capacity of governor, was able to put his foot down upon this evasion of his law. He threatened the traders that, if they hung about on the outskirts of the walls on the Sabbath, he would treat them as public enemies.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod,.... Which they learned of their mothers, so that it was a mixed language they spoke, partly Jewish and partly Philistine; but some refer this not to their speech, but to the number of their children; that half of them, which Jarchi interprets many of them, spoke in the language of Ashdod, even as many as were most with their mothers, and chiefly brought up by them:

and could not speak in the Jews' language; not at all, or so much as to be understood well, which inclines to the last sense:

but according to the language of each people; their mothers were of, whether of Ashdod, or of Ammon, or of Moab.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The lodging of the merchants with their merchandise just outside Jerusalem during the Sabbath, marked their impatience for the moment when they might bring their wares in. This was thought by Nehemiah to be unseemly, and to have an irreligious tendency.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

On you. To punish you, (Calmet) for thus endeavouring to tempt the people. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I will lay hands on you; I will punish you, and seize your goods. For this was a temptation to covetous or needy Jews, that lived in or near the city, to steal opportunities of buying their commodities, which then they might do with more advantage.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. I will lay hands on you — Proceed to violent measures, and arrest and treat you as criminals.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why do you camp outside the wall?

Nehemiah uses a rhetorical question to rebuke merchants and to emphasize his command. This question can be translated as a statement. The full meaning of this statement can also be made explicit. AT: "You are camping outside the wall against what I commanded." (See: Rhetorical Question and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

I will lay hands on you!

The word "hands" is a metonym for forceful action. AT: "I will send you away by force!" or "I will remove you by force!" (See: Metonymy)

Call me to mind for this also, my God

"My God, remember me concerning this also." See how you translated a similar phrase in Nehemiah 13:14.

translationWords

hand

Sabbath

command

Levi

pure

sanctify

call

mind

God

mercy

covenant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

and I said to them I warned those traffickers.

If you repeat this if you continue to do this a second time.

Since that time From that day on, they did not come on the Sabbath day.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.