Exodus 31:15

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שַׁבָּת֛וֹן

shabbâthôwn

H7677

“Sabbath observance”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 11× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 16:23

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7676

TWOT: 2323d

Sabbath observance, sabbatism - of weekly sabbath - day of atonement - sabbatical year - of Feast of Trumpets - of the 1st and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

17: words
11: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is שַׁבָּת֛וֹן Sabbath observance H7677 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שַׁבָּת֛וֹן Sabbath observance H7677 occurs in 10 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
11 nouns
2 adjectives

Verb forms

יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה Niphal · Imperfect
הָעֹשֶׂ֧ה Qal · Participle Active
מ֥וֹת Qal · Infinitive Absolute
יוּמָֽת Hophal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

יָמִים֮ day H3117 ×3
יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה to do H6213 ×2
מְלָאכָה֒ work H4399 ×2
שַׁבַּ֧ת Sabbath H7676 ×2
מ֥וֹת to die H4191 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 34 words from the Hebrew and 35 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 17 Hebrew tokens and 24 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 31:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 2:2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Exodus 16:23 He said to them, "This is that which Yahweh has spoken, 'Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning."
Leviticus 23:3 "'Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
Exodus 34:21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.'"
Exodus 35:2 'Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh: whoever does any work in it shall be put to death.
Jeremiah 17:24–27 It shall happen, if you diligently listen to me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;
Luke 13:14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, "There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!"

Luke 23:56 They returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Exodus 16:26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none."
Exodus 20:8–11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 31:14 You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Leviticus 23:32 It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath."
Numbers 15:32–36 While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.
Ezekiel 46:1 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
Hebrews 4:9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 31:15 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י שַׁבַּ֧ת שַׁבָּת֛וֹן קֹ֖דֶשׁ לַיהוָ֑ה כָּל הָעֹשֶׂ֧ה מְלָאכָ֛ה בְּי֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖ת מ֥וֹת יוּמָֽת

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 31:15 Septuagint · lemma form

ἕξ ἡμέρα ποιέω ἔργον ὁ δέ ἡμέρα ὁ ἕβδομος σάββατον ἀνάπαυσις ἅγιος ὁ κύριος πᾶς ὅς ποιέω ἔργον ὁ ἡμέρα ὁ ἕβδομος θάνατος θανατόω

Six days you shall do works, but the seventh day is the sabbath, a holy rest to the Lord; every one who shall do a work on the seventh day shall be put to death.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

שִׁתָּא יוֹמִין יִתְעֲבֵד עִבִידָא וּבְיוֹמָא שְׁבִיעָאָה שְׁבַת שַׁבְּתָא קוּדְשָׁא קֳדָם יְיָ כָּל דְיַעְבֵּד עִבִדְתָּא בְּיוֹמָא דְשַׁבְּתָא אִתְקְטָלָא יִתְקְטֵל:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

שִׁיתָּא יוֹמִין יִתְעֲבֵיד עִיבִידְתָּא וּבְיוֹמָא שְׁבִיעָאָה שַׁבָּת שַׁבְּתָא קוּדְשָׁא קֳדָם יְיָ כָּל מַאן דְּיַעֲבֵיד עִיבִידְתָּא בְּיוֹמָא דְשַׁבְּתָא אִתְקְטָלָא יִתְקְטֵיל בְּמַטְלוּת אַבְנִין

Six days ye shall do work; but the seventh day is Sabbath, the holy Sabbath before the Lord. Whoso doeth work upon the Sabbath, dying he shall die, by the casting of stones.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 31:15 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh [is] the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth [any] work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Ver. 15. Whosoever doeth any work.] A certain Indian that had been taught by the English, coming by, and seeing one of the English profaning the Lord’s day by felling of a tree, said to him, Do you not know that this is the Lord’s day in Massachusetts (one of the English plantations), much machete man that is, very wicked man; - why break you God’s day? {a}

{a} New England’s Firstfruits.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Six days.—Comp. Exo_20:9.

The sabbath of rest.—Rather, a sabbath of rest, or a complete rest. The repetition (sabbath sabbâthôn) gives an idea of completeness.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

15. How the sabbath is to be observed, viz. by cessation from work. Cf. Exo_20:9 f.

a sabbath of entire rest] So Exo_35:2, Lev_23:3 al.: see on Exo_16:23.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Six days may work be done;.... Allowed to be done by an Israelite, if he would; for this is not a command to work, but a permission or grant to do it; and therefore, seeing they had so many days granted them for their use, it could not be thought hard and unreasonable that God should claim one day in seven for his own use and service, and oblige them to refrain from work on it:

but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest; from worldly labour, and was typical of spiritual rest here, and eternal rest hereafter:

holy to the Lord; separated from other days, and entirely devoted to the worship and service of God, and to be kept holy to the Lord in all holy and religious exercises, as hearing and reading the word, praying, praising, &c.

whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death; the Targum of Jonathan adds, by casting stones, and so we find that the first transgressor of this law we read of was stoned to death, Num 15:35.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The sabbath of rest, Heb. the sabbath of sabbaths, or, of sabbaths, i.e. the great and chief sabbath, as the song of songs is the most excellent song, the holy of holies is the most holy, &c. The Jews had many sabbaths or days of rest, but this is here preferred before them all, by this emphatical repetition of the same word; and by this argument the foregoing duty is pressed upon them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The sabbath of rest. Rather, a sabbath." There were other sabbaths besides that of the seventh day. (Exo_23:11; Lev_25:2-12; etc.) By the expression, "a sabbath of rest literally, "a rest of resting the idea of completeness is given. Perhaps the best translation would be the seventh is complete rest."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

It is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord - It is separated from common use, for the service of God; and by the observance of it we are taught to rest from worldly pursuits, and devote ourselves, and all we are, have, and can do, to God's glory.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

שבת שבתון denotes, reposeful rest and not rest of a casual character.

‘קדש לה HOLINESS TO THE LORD — The observance of its holiness shall be (it shall be kept holy) to the glory of My Name and by My command (because I have commanded it).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 17 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shabbâthôwn (“Sabbath observance”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Sabbath observance” (shabbâthôwn) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Exodus 16:23 shares the word «Sabbath observance» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“day” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה» is Niphal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 17 Hebrew ↔ 24 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“day” occurs 3× in this single verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 17 words in this verse.