So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ¹  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ²  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

“But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹  and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ²  ‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ³  (How long will this go on?) ⁴  – he who gets rich by extortion!’ ⁵ 

they did something clever. They collected some provisions ¹  and put worn-out sacks on their donkeys, along with worn-out wineskins that were ripped and patched.

Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ¹  No one will break through our walls, no one will be taken captive, and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ² 

The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ¹  Do not carry any loads ²  in through ³  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. ¹  But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, ²  as I commanded your ancestors. ³ 

For some of these insinuate themselves ¹  into households and captivate weak women ²  who are overwhelmed with sins and led along by various passions.

They will judge ¹  the people under normal circumstances, ²  and every difficult case ³  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁴  they themselves will judge, so that ⁵  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁶  and they will bear the burden ⁷  with you.

¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵ 

The Lord says, ¹  ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day.

(Now Abram was very wealthy ¹  in livestock, silver, and gold.) ² 

When morning came, ¹  the men and their donkeys were sent off. ² 

¹ Then all the community raised a loud cry, ²  and the people wept ³  that night.

But how can I alone bear up under the burden of your hardship and strife?

When the evening shadows ¹  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ²  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ³  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

You hear prayers; ¹  all people approach you. ² 

But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through ¹  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”

For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

This is what they are responsible to carry as their entire service in the tent of meeting: the frames ¹  of the tabernacle, its crossbars, its posts, its sockets,

My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ¹  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’” ²