Bilangan 15:32-36

15:32 When the Israelites were ¹  in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ²  15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. 15:34 They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him. 15:35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone ³  him with stones outside the camp.” 15:36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, ⁴  just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Ulangan 5:14

5:14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath ⁵  of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, ⁶  so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.

Nehemia 13:15-21

13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions. 13:16 The people from Tyre ⁷  who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah – and in Jerusalem, of all places! ⁸  13:17 So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 13:18 Isn’t this the way your ancestors ⁹  acted, causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune? And now you are causing even more wrath on Israel, profaning the Sabbath like this!”

13:19 When the evening shadows ¹⁰  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ¹¹  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ¹²  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day. 13:20 The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 13:21 But I warned them and said, ¹³  “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you!” ¹⁴  From that time on they did not show up on the Sabbath. ¹⁵ 

Yohanes 5:10

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁶  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ¹⁷ 

[15:32]  ¹ tn The preterite of the verb “to be” is here subordinated to the next, parallel verb form, to form a temporal clause.

[15:32]  ² sn For this brief passage, see A. Phillips, “The Case of the Woodgatherer Reconsidered,” VT 19 (1969): 125-28; J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Woodgatherer (Numbers XV 32-36),” VT 16 (1966): 361-64; and B. J. Bamberger, “Revelations of Torah after Sinai,” HUCA 16 (1941): 97-113. Weingreen argues that there is something of the Rabbinic method of setting a fence around the Law here; in other words, if this sin were not punished, the Law would have been violated in greater ways. Gathering of wood, although seemingly harmless, is done with intent to kindle fire, and so reveals a culpable intent.

[15:35]  ³ tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.

[15:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”

[5:14]  ⁵ tn There is some degree of paronomasia (wordplay) here: “the seventh (הַשְּׁבִיעִי, hashÿvi’i) day is the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat).” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, since “Sabbath” is derived from the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease”).

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your gates”; NRSV, CEV “in your towns”; TEV “in your country.”

[13:16]  ⁷ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[13:16]  ⁸ tn The words “of all places” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to indicate the emphasis on Jerusalem.

[13:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[13:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the gates of Jerusalem grew dark.”

[13:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “said” (so also in v. 22).

[13:19]  ¹² tn Heb “caused to stand.”

[13:21]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text includes the words “to them,” but they have been excluded from the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will send a hand on you.”

[13:21]  ¹⁵ sn This statement contains a great deal of restrained humor. The author clearly takes pleasure in the effectiveness of the measures that he had enacted.

[5:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).

[5:10]  ¹⁷ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.