18. People are hurting me. Make them ashamed, but don’t disappoint me. Let them be filled with fear, but don’t give me any reason to fear. Bring the terrible day of disaster to my enemies. Break them, and break them again.
19. This is what the Lord said to me: “Jeremiah, go and stand at the People’s Gate, where the kings of Judah go in and out. Tell the people my message, and then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem and do the same.”
20. Say to the people, “Listen to this message from the Lord. Listen, kings of Judah. Listen, all you people of Judah. All you who come through these gates into Jerusalem, listen to me!
21. This is what the Lord says: ‘Be careful that you don’t carry a load on the Sabbath day. And don’t bring a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
22. Don’t bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work on that day. You must make the Sabbath day a holy day. I gave this same command to your ancestors,
23. but they did not obey me. They did not pay attention to me. Your ancestors were very stubborn. I punished them, but it did not do any good. They did not listen to me.
24. But you must be careful to obey me, says the Lord. You must not bring a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath. You must make the Sabbath day a holy day. You will do this by not doing any work on that day.
25. “‘If you obey this command, the kings and leaders will be from David’s family. It will be the kings who sit on David’s throne and the leaders from Judah and Jerusalem who come through the gates of Jerusalem riding on chariots and on horses. And Jerusalem will have people living in it forever.