A few instances of work prohibited on a Sabbath-day are met with in the Bible. In connection with the manna, the prohibition of cooking and baking is mentioned; also the commandment, “Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Exod. xvi. 29); i.e., we must not travel or go beyond a certain distance [64] on the Sabbath. Another act distinctly forbidden is contained in the words, “Ye shall kindle no fire in all your dwellings on the day of rest” (ibid. xxxv. 3). The prophet Amos (viii. 5), in rebuking the Israelites for cheating their fellow-men, puts the following words into their mouth: “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may open our stores of wheat?” This shows that the Israelites conducted no business on New-moon and Sabbath. Jeremiah (xvii. 21 sqq.) says as follows: “Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day.”—Nehemiah relates (xiii. 15): “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. Then I said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the sabbath day?” As a general rule, we may say that the work prohibited on Sabbath and Festivals embraces two classes: viz., (1) All such acts as are legally—i.e., in the Oral Law—defined as ‏מלאכה‎ “work.” It makes no difference whether we consider any of them as labour or not. Under thirty-nine different heads [65] they are enumerated in the Mishnah (Shabbath vii. 2). The following are a few of them:—Ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, baking, hunting, killing an animal, tanning, sewing, writing, kindling light or fire, and carrying things abroad. (2.) Everything which our conscience tells us to be inappropriate for the Sabbath; acts which come neither under the head of ‏מלאכה‎ nor under that of ‏שבות‎, but which would tend to change the Sabbath into an ordinary day; e.g., preparing for our daily business transactions, although such preparation does not involve an actual breach of any of the Sabbath laws. Whatever we are not allowed to do ourselves, we must not have done for us by a co-religionist, who deliberately disregards the fourth commandment. Neither must we employ non-Israelites to do our work on Sabbath, except in case of need; e.g., in case of illness or fear of illness.