The merchants and tradesmen with a variety of wares camped outside Jerusalem once or twice.
Parallel translations
- WEB So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares camped outside of Jerusalem once or twice.
- KJV So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
- BSB Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,
- NKJV Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
- NASB Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The merchants camped outside Jerusalem once or twice, hoping to continue trading. It matters because sin often persists and presses against the boundaries set to restrain it.
Overview
Shut out of the city, the traders lingered nearby, testing whether the restriction would hold. Their persistence illustrates how strongly worldly habits resist correction. This reminds God's people that guarding holiness requires steadfast resolve, for temptation does not easily give up its claim.
Cross-references & the web
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 13:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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