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 26:33

26:33 You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. ⁵  The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. ⁶ 

Exodus 28:4

28:4 Now these are the garments that they are to make: a breastpiece, ⁷  an ephod, ⁸  a robe, a fitted ⁹  tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make holy garments for your brother Aaron and for his sons, that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ¹⁰  must surely be put to death; indeed, ¹¹  if anyone does ¹²  any ¹³  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ¹⁴  people.

[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.

[26:33]  ⁵ tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”

[26:33]  ⁶ tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”

[28:4]  ⁹ sn The breastpiece seems to have been a pouch of sorts or to have had a pocket, since it was folded in some way (28:16; 39:9) and contained the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8).

[28:4]  ¹⁰ sn The word “ephod” is taken over directly from Hebrew, because no one knows how to translate it, nor is there agreement about its design. It refers here to a garment worn by the priests, but the word can also refer to some kind of image for a god (Judg 8:27).

[28:4]  ¹¹ tn The word תָּשְׁבֵּץ (tashbets), which describes the tunic and which appears only in this verse, is related to a verb (also rare) of the same root in 28:39 that describes making the tunic. Their meaning is uncertain (see the extended discussion in C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:473-75). A related noun describes gold fasteners and the “settings,” or “mountings,” for precious stones (28:11, 13, 14, 20, 25; 36:18; 39:6, 13, 16, 18; cf. Ps 45:14). The word “fitted” in 28:4 reflects the possibility that “the tunic is to be shaped by sewing, … so that it will fit tightly around the body” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:475).

[31:14]  ¹³ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ¹⁴ tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ¹⁶ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ¹⁷ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).