Nehemiah 13:19-21

The Voice

¹⁹ As the sun was setting before the Sabbath and darkness fell over Jerusalem’s gates, I ordered the doors to be closed. I required them to remain closed until the Sabbath ended. I placed some of my own guards by the gates to ensure no load of merchandise could be brought into the city during the Sabbath, but Jerusalem’s citizens could still come and go. ²⁰ On a couple of different occasions, some traders and merchants of a great variety of goods slept by the gates outside the wall. ²¹ They also received a warning from me.

They never came back on the Sabbath again.