Exodus 31:15

31:15 Six days ¹  work may be done, ²  but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, ³  holy to the Lord; anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.

Exodus 35:2

35:2 In six days ⁴  work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day ⁵  for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. ⁶  Anyone who does work on it will be put to death.

Exodus 16:23

16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ⁷  a holy Sabbath ⁸  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ⁹  bake, bake today; ¹⁰  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

¹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time, indicating that work may be done for six days out of the week.

² tn The form is a Niphal imperfect; it has the nuance of permission in this sentence, for the sentence is simply saying that the six days are work days – that is when work may be done.

³ tn The expression is שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbat shabbaton), “a Sabbath of entire rest,” or better, “a sabbath of complete desisting” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 404). The second noun, the modifying genitive, is an abstract noun. The repetition provides the superlative idea that complete rest is the order of the day.

⁴ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

⁵ tn The word is קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holiness”). S. R. Driver suggests that the word was transposed, and the line should read: “a sabbath of entire rest, holy to Jehovah” (Exodus, 379). But the word may simply be taken as a substitution for “holy day.”

⁶ sn See on this H. Routtenberg, “The Laws of the Sabbath: Biblical Sources,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 41-43, 99-101, 153-55, 204-6; G. Robinson, “The Idea of Rest in the Old Testament and the Search for the Basic Character of Sabbath,” ZAW 92 (1980): 32-43.

⁷ tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.

⁸ tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.

⁹ tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”

¹⁰ tn The word “today” is implied from the context.