Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 17:22

"neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers." — Jeremiah 17:22 (ASV)

Neither carry forth a burden. —Interpreted by the parallel passage in Nehemiah 13:15-22, the burden would be the baskets of fruit, vegetables, or fish which were brought in from the country by the villagers who came to the Temple services, and the wares of the city which were taken to the gates to be sold in turn to them.

The Sabbath was observed in a way, but, as Sunday has been for many centuries and in many parts of Christendom, it was turned into a market-day, and so, though people probably abstained from manual labor, the quiet sanctity which rightfully belonged to it was lost. Passages like Isaiah 56:2-6; Isaiah 58:13 show that the evil was long-standing, and the practice in the time of Jehoiakim was not likely to be more rigorous than it had been in the time of Isaiah, or was, at a later period, after the return from the Captivity.