Leviticus 16:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שַׁבָּת֥וֹן

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 →

9: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

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

Shared distinctive vocabulary

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

Grammatical profile

1 verb
5 nouns
1 pronoun
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם Piel · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 22 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 9 Hebrew tokens and 13 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 Leviticus 16:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

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."
Isaiah 58:5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?
Exodus 31:15 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.
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.
Leviticus 25:4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
Isaiah 58:3 Why have we fasted, [say they], and you don't see? [why] have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find [your own] pleasure, and exact all your labors.

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 Leviticus 16:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

שַׁבַּ֨ת שַׁבָּת֥וֹן הִיא֙ לָכֶ֔ם וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם חֻקַּ֖ת עוֹלָֽם

It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 16:31 Septuagint · lemma form

σάββατον σάββατον ἀνάπαυσις οὗτος εἰμί σύ καί ταπεινόω ὁ ψυχή σύ νόμιμος αἰώνιος

This shall be to you a most holy sabbath, a rest, and you⌃ shall humble your souls; it is a perpetual ordinance.

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)

שְׁבַת שְׁבָתָא הִיא לְכוֹן וּתְעַנוּן יָת נַפְשָּׁתֵיכוֹן קְיַם עֲלָם

(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)

שַׁבָּת שַׁבַּתָּא הוּא לְכוֹן כָּל עִיבִידַת פּוּלְחָנָא לָא תַעַבְדוּן וּתְעַנוּן יַת נַפְשָׁתֵיכוֹן קְיַים עֲלָם

It is a Sabbath of rest to you: no work of business shall you do, but shall humiliate your souls. It is an everlasting statute.

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 Leviticus 16:31 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 →

Commentary source

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you.—Literally, a resting day of solemn resting, a Sabbath of Sabbaths, i.e., a day of complete and perfect rest. This phrase, which occurs six times in the Bible, is only applied to weekly Sabbaths (Exo_16:23; Exo_31:15; Exo_35:2; Lev_23:3), the Day of Atonement (Lev_16:31; Lev_23:32), and to the Sabbatical year, or the year of Jubilee (Lev_25:4), but not to the other festivals.

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

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 16:31 It [shall be] a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

Ver. 31. It shall be a Sabbath of rest.] An exact and careful rest, such as is described in Isa 58:13, which place of the prophet some understand of this day of atonement, and yearly fast, spoken of in the beginning of that chapter.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 16:31. A sabbath — Observed as a sabbath day, by cessation from all servile works, and in diligent attendance upon God’s worship.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

16:31 The Day of Atonement was regarded as a Sabbath day. No one in the camp, Israelite or foreigner, was permitted to work (see 19:30).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or a rest which ye shall keep most diligently.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. a sabbath of solemn rest] Heb. shabbath shabbâthôn, here and Lev_23:32 of the Day of Atonement; Exo_31:15; Exo_35:2; Lev_23:3 of the sabbath; Lev_25:4 of the sabbatical year. Shabbâthôn is used of the first day of the seventh month, Lev_23:24, and of the first and eighth days of Tabernacles, Lev_23:39. In Exo_16:23 the order of the two Heb. words is inverted, with ref. to an ordinary sabbath, ‘a solemn rest, a holy sabbath.’

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

And the priest whom he shall anoint,.... Whom God shall anoint, or shall be anointed, that shall succeed in the high priesthood, as Aaron's sons did, the eldest of them, and none but such were anointed:

and whom he shall consecrate; or fill his hands, by putting the sacrifices into them; See Gill on Exo 28:41 andSee Gill on Exo 29:9, Exo 29:24; by which, and by anointing him, and clothing him with the priestly garments, he was consecrated and installed into his office, in order

to minister in the priest's office, in his father's stead: a son of an high priest was always preferred to any other, and to him it of right belonged to succeed his father in his office: and such an one, thus consecrated,

shall make the atonement; on this day of atonement; not a common priest, but the high priest only; so Jarchi observes, this expiation of the day of atonement was not right but by an high priest; for the whole section is said concerning Aaron, and therefore it must needs be said of an high priest that comes after him, that should be as he was:

and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: that is, on the day of atonement; in which clothes all the service peculiar to that day, as it was done by Aaron, so it was to be done by all his successors.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

CHAPTER XVI.

Of rest. Hebrew, "of sabbaths;" that is, a day of most perfect rest; so that even meat is not allowed to be dressed on it, as it is on other festivals, chap. xxiii. 27. (Calmet) --- Religion. Fasting is therefore an act of religion. (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

A sabbath of rest; observed as a sabbath day by cessation from all worldly and servile works, and diligent attendance upon God’s worship and service.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

31. A sabbath of rest — This sabbath (shabbathon) was a decalogue Sabbath only when the day of atonement fell on the seventh day of the week. See Lev_23:24, note, with concluding note (2) to the same.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

"A sabbath of rest.

"Ye shall afflict your souls." The true penitence is the true peace. The" sabbath" represents the joyful acceptance of the creature, and his entrance into the Divine satisfaction. The Lord rested, and he invites man to rest with him. Sin is the only obstacle to that reconciliation and fellowship which blends man"s sabbath with God"s sabbath. "Once a year" the Jews celebrated this restoration, to us a statute of daily life every day a sabbath. R.

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

A sabbath - Observed as a sabbath-day from all servile works, and diligent attendance upon God's worship.

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

Sforno

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno

It is an everlasting statute. Even during the time when the Beis HaMikdash does not exist you shall keep [the commandments of] cessation of work and affliction.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (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.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (8 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

How does “Sabbath observance” (shabbâthôwn) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Exodus 16:23, which shares the word «Sabbath observance», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם» is a Piel Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and Trapp's Complete Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.