Exodus 16:23

16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ¹  a holy Sabbath ²  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ³  bake, bake today; ⁴  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

Exodus 20:10

20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it ⁵  you shall not do any work, you, ⁶  or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. ⁷ 

Genesis 2:2

2:2 By ⁸  the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, ⁹  and he ceased ¹⁰  on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

Leviticus 23:3

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ¹¹  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Leviticus 23:32

23:32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.” ¹² 

Luke 23:56

23:56 Then ¹³  they returned and prepared aromatic spices ¹⁴  and perfumes. ¹⁵ 

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 4:9

4:9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.

[16:23]  ¹ 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.

[16:23]  ² 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.

[16:23]  ³ tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”

[16:23]  ⁴ tn The word “today” is implied from the context.

[20:10]  ⁵ tn The phrase “on it” has been supplied for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁶ sn The wife is omitted in the list, not that she was considered unimportant, nor that she was excluded from the rest, but rather in reflecting her high status. She was not man’s servant, not lesser than the man, but included with the man as an equal before God. The “you” of the commandments is addressed to the Israelites individually, male and female, just as God in the Garden of Eden held both the man and the woman responsible for their individual sins (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 567-68).

[20:10]  ⁷ sn The Sabbath day was the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant. It required Israel to cease from ordinary labors and devote the day to God. It required Israel to enter into the life of God, to share his Sabbath. It gave them a chance to recall the work of the Creator. But in the NT the apostolic teaching for the Church does not make one day holier than another, but calls for the entire life to be sanctified to God. This teaching is an application of the meaning of entering into the Sabbath of God. The book of Hebrews declares that those who believe in Christ cease from their works and enter into his Sabbath rest. For a Christian keeping Saturday holy is not a requirement from the NT; it may be a good and valuable thing to have a day of rest and refreshment, but it is not a binding law for the Church. The principle of setting aside time to worship and serve the Lord has been carried forward, but the strict regulations have not.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “on/in the seventh day.”

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “his work which he did [or “made”].”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term שָׁבַּת (shabbat) can be translated “to rest” (“and he rested”) but it basically means “to cease.” This is not a rest from exhaustion; it is the cessation of the work of creation.

[23:3]  ¹¹ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[23:32]  ¹² tn Heb “you shall rest your Sabbath.”

[23:56]  ¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:56]  ¹⁴ tn On this term see BDAG 140-41 s.v. ἄρωμα. The Jews did not practice embalming, so these preparations were used to cover the stench of decay and slow decomposition. The women planned to return and anoint the body. But that would have to wait until after the Sabbath.

[23:56]  ¹⁵ tn Or “ointments.” This was another type of perfumed oil.

[23:56]  ¹⁶ sn According to the commandment. These women are portrayed as pious, faithful to the law in observing the Sabbath.