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how do other old testament prophets or writings speak about sabbath observance?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Isaiah 58:13-14

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable, and honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then you will delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.

The prophet Isaiah, writing around the 8th century BCE, often spoke to the people of Judah about their covenant relationship with God. In this chapter, Isaiah contrasts outward religious observances, like fasting, with true righteousness and social justice, leading into a discussion of the Sabbath's importance.

What might it mean for you to call the Sabbath a 'delight' in your own life today?

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Read alongside it

  • Jeremiah 17:21-27

    Jeremiah also warns about breaking the Sabbath, connecting it to the city's fate.

  • Nehemiah 13:15-22

    Nehemiah describes how he took action to restore proper Sabbath observance among the returned exiles.

  • Ezekiel 20:12-24

    Ezekiel presents the Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, violated by the people.

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