18 This is just what your ancestors did. So our God did terrible things to us and this city. Now you are making him even more angry at Israel by ruining the Sabbath day.”
19 So I ordered that the doors be shut at sunset before the Sabbath and not be opened until the Sabbath was over. I put my servants at the gates so no load could come in on the Sabbath.
20 Once or twice traders and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21 So I warned them, “Why are you spending the night by the wall? If you do it again, I will force you away.” After that, they did not come back on the Sabbath.
22 Then I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to guard the city gates to make sure the Sabbath remained holy.Remember me, my God, for this. Have mercy on me because of your great love.
23 In those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24 Half their children were speaking the language of Ashdod or some other place, and they couldn’t speak the language of Judah.