Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

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.”

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.

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,

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.

“‘But if you don’t listen to me and obey me, bad things will happen. If you carry loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, you are not keeping it as a holy day. So I will start a fire that cannot be put out. That fire will start at the gates of Jerusalem, and it will burn until it burns even the palaces.’”

But the ruler must give the things needed for the special holy days. The ruler must provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings for the feast days, for the New Moon, for the Sabbaths, and for all the other special meeting days of the family of Israel. He must give all the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings that are used to make the family of Israel pure.”

The Ruler and the Festivals

This is what the Lord God says: “The east gate of the inner courtyard will be closed on the six working days. But it will be opened on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon.

On the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon, the common people will also worship the Lord at that gate.

“The ruler will offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the Sabbath. He must provide six lambs that have nothing wrong with them and a ram that has nothing wrong with it.

“When the ruler gives a freewill offering to the Lord—it might be a burnt offering, a fellowship offering, or a freewill offering—the east gate will be opened for him. Then he will offer his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. After he leaves, the gate will be shut.

You merchants say, “When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath be over so that we can bring out more wheat to sell? We can raise the price and make the measure smaller. We can fix the scales and cheat the people.

Jesus Is Lord Over the Sabbath Day

About that same time, Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were with him, and they were hungry. So they began to pick the grain and eat it.

The Pharisees saw this. They said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the law to do on the Sabbath day.”

And you have read in the Law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests at the Temple break the law about the Sabbath day. But they are not wrong for doing that.

“The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath day.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath Day

Jesus went from there to their synagogue.

In the synagogue there was a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews there were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. So they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”

Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, you will take the sheep and help it out of the ditch.

Surely a man is more important than a sheep. So it is right to do good on the Sabbath day.”

Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away,

News That Jesus Has Risen From Death

The day after the Sabbath day was the first day of the week. That day at dawn Mary Magdalene and the other woman named Mary went to look at the tomb.

Jesus Frees a Man From an Evil Spirit

Jesus and his followers went to Capernaum. On the Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught the people.

Jesus Is Lord Over the Sabbath Day

On the Sabbath day, Jesus and his followers were walking through some grain fields. The followers picked some grain to eat.

Some Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing this? It is against the law to pick grain on the Sabbath.”

Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. People were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath.