What Does Nehemiah 10:31 Mean?
And if the peoples of the land bring goods or any grain on the sabbath to sell, that we will not buy it from them on the sabbath, or on the set-apart day; and that we would let drop the seventh year, and the burden of every hand.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.THE KEY
Rest becomes material here: trade stops for the day, the land rests for a year, and debt’s claim is released.
THE MEANING
This passage speaks to an economy that can pause its claims: buying stops on the Sabbath and holy day, the seventh year is left to rest, and debt collection is released. Sacred time reaches into trade, land, and obligation, loosening what people hold over one another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every day, acre, and debt must remain available for trade or collection. Here, rest includes a real limit on buying and a release from claims.
THE ROOT
שַׁבָּת
shabbat
GROWS FROM
שבת
sh-b-t
To cease, stop, or come to rest.
“sabbath” in this verse is shabbat. The Hebrew root keeps the act of ceasing audible inside the name of the day. The pledge makes that cessation concrete by refusing a sale and extending release into the seventh year and its debts.
ALSO GROWS
shavat: To cease or stop.
שָׁבַת
The Sabbath’s name is tied to the act it embodies: stopping.
shabbaton: A solemn rest or Sabbath observance.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
The same root names an extended observance of rest, echoing the seventh-year pause.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart or consecrate.
“set-apart day” in this verse is qodesh. The holy day is marked as set apart, and that separation takes an economic form: buying is suspended. The passage binds consecrated time to what people do with goods and obligations.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; consecrated.
קָדוֹשׁ
The day belongs to a category set apart from ordinary buying.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root describes a place set apart, giving the holy day a concrete boundary in time.
THE PATTERN
Sacred rest interrupts ordinary claims over commerce, land, and debt.
But in the seventh year there shall be a full stopping for the land, a stopping for the LORD. You shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard.And this is the word of the release. Every one whose hand has lent to his neighbor shall let it fall, and he shall not press it from his neighbor or from his brother, for it is called the LORD's release.He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.THE THREAD
And this is the word of the release. Every one whose hand has lent to his neighbor shall let it fall, and he shall not press it from his neighbor or from his brother, for it is called the LORD's release.Nehemiah’s pledge compresses this release into the calendar: buying stops on the Sabbath, and the seventh year loosens debts. Deuteronomy names debt remission the LORD’s release, showing how the passage’s final clause fits into a larger structure of relinquished claims.
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