¹⁸ This is just what your ancestors did, and God brought all this evil upon us and upon this city. And now you are bringing more wrath upon Israel by making the Sabbath impure!”

¹⁹ So when it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the doors should be shut. I also ordered that they shouldn’t be reopened until after the Sabbath. To make sure that no load would come into the city^[a] on the Sabbath, I stationed some of my own men at the gates. ²⁰ Once or twice the traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.