²⁰ and ^(A)keep my Sabbaths holy that ^(B)they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’

²² And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath ^(A)or do any work, but ^(B)keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

^24 (A)In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^(B)they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

¹² Moreover, I gave them ^(A)my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, ^(B)that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁵ In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses ^(A)on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, ^(B)which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And ^(C)I warned them on the day when they sold food. ¹⁶ Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! ^17 (D)Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, ^(E)profaning the Sabbath day? ^18 (F)Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster^[a] on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ As soon as it ^(G)began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ^21 (H)But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites ^(I)that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. ^(J)Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

¹³ “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. ^(A)Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ^15 (B)Six days shall work be done, but ^(C)the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. ^(D)Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ^17 (E)It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that ^(F)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and ^(G)on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

²⁷ But if you do not listen to me, to ^(A)keep the Sabbath day holy, ^(B)and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will ^(C)kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall ^(D)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^(E)shall not be quenched.’”

²⁴ “‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and ^(A)bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but ^(B)keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,