²¹ Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and ^(A)do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

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.

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

³² While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^(A)gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ^34 (B)They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(C)“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall ^(D)stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

^9 (A)And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

^(B)Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews^[a] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and ^(C)it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”

²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(A)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.

^23 (A)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and ^(B)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (A)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(B)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

^9 (A)“Only take care, and ^(B)keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. ^(C)Make them known to your children and your children's children—

¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(A)fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ^(B)“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is ^(C)sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.