16. People who had moved to Jerusalem from the city of Tyre were bringing in fish and other things to sell there on the Sabbath.
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 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.