Nehemiah 10:31 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And if the people of the land The heathen; bring ware or victuals on the sabbath day to sell, we would not buy it They not only would not sell goods themselves for gain on that day, but they would not encourage the heathen to sell by buying of them, no, not victuals, under pretence of necessity, but would buy in their provisions for their families the day before. They that covenant to keep all the commandments of God, must particularly covenant to keep the sabbath holy. For the profanation of this is a sure inlet to all manner of profaneness. Or on the holy day That is, on days of rest from labour, such as the passover, the first and seventh day of unleavened bread, Exodus 12:16, the feast of trumpets, Leviticus 23:25, and others. And that we would leave the seventh year Let the land rest from ploughing or tilling in that year, and leave the fruit of it, which grew of itself, for the poor, as the law required. See the margin. And the exaction of every debt Would remit, in that year, the debts owed by the poor. The Hebrew משׂא כל יד, masse cal jad, is literally, the burden of every hand. Debts may be so called, because they are commonly contracted or confirmed by a bill, declaration, or promise, given under the debtor's hand. Or the meaning is, as in Isaiah 58:6, that they engage to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break off every yoke.