There was a tendency to have recourse to the Divine messages of future comfort and glory when the present was gloomy and sad. At the end of the Service or a religious discourse, just before leaving the Synagogue or the Beth ha-midrash, passages from the Prophets were read, in order that the people might carry away with them a strengthened faith in God and in the ultimate victory of their religion. On Sabbath morning the lessons from the Prophets were of greater importance, since a larger number congregated, and more time could be devoted to it. A b’rachah therefore introduced it, and b’rachoth, including a prayer for the restoration of Zion, followed it. The name haphtarah suggests this explanation; it denotes literally “causing to leave,” “departure,” or “conclusion.” After the return of the Jews from Babylon they spoke the Chaldee dialect; the lessons from the Bible were accordingly accompanied by a Chaldee translation called targum. The translation was not always literal, but was frequently a paraphrase. It was given, as a rule, after each verse, by an appointed methurgeman.—In communities which only understood Greek the Greek version was read. A Spanish translation of the haphtarah is still added at present on the Fast of Ab in the Portuguese Ritual; but otherwise the practice of adding a translation to the text has long since been discontinued. b. ‏שמור‎ “Take Heed.” The negative commandment concerning the Holy-days is: ‏לא תעשה כל מלאכה‎, “Thou shalt do no manner of work.” The very name Sabbath (‏שבת‎, “rest”) implies absence of labour. We are commanded to rest on the Sabbath, but not to indulge in laziness and indolence, which are by no means conducive to the health of the body or the soul. The Sabbath rest is described in our Sabbath Afternoon Service as “voluntary and congenial, true and faithful, and happy and cheerful.” Moderate exercise, cheerful reading, and pleasant conversation are indispensable for a rest of this kind. What is to be understood by the term “labour” or “work” in the prohibition “Thou shalt not do any manner of work”? The Pentateuch gives no definition of the term. But the Israelites, when they were told that work was prohibited on Sabbath, and that any breach of the law was to be punished with death, must have received orally a full explanation of the prohibition. A case is mentioned of one who profaned the Sabbath by gathering sticks, and was put to death; this could not have been done if any doubt had been left in his mind whether the act of gathering sticks was included in the prohibition.