Exodus 23:12

12 "Work six days a week, but do no work on the seventh day, so that your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals can rest. 1

Exodus 23:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:12

Six days thou shalt do thy work
That is, they might do what work they would on the six days of the week:

and on the seventh day thou shall rest;
from all the work and labour done on other days, and give up themselves to religious exercises:

that thine ox and thine ass may rest;
and so every other beast, as horses, camels

and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed;
the former, the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi, interprets, of one uncircumcised, and the latter, of a proselyte of the gate: this law is here repeated, partly to show that it is of the same kind with the former, namely, ceremonial and temporary; and partly, as Jarchi observes, lest it should be said, since all, the year is called the sabbath, there was no need to observe the weekly sabbath.

Exodus 23:12 In-Context

10 "For six years plant your land and gather in what it produces.
11 But in the seventh year let it rest, and do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there, and the wild animals can have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees.
12 "Work six days a week, but do no work on the seventh day, so that your slaves and the foreigners who work for you and even your animals can rest.
13 "Listen to everything that I, the Lord, have said to you. Do not pray to other gods; do not even mention their names.
14 "Celebrate three festivals a year to honor me

Cross References 1

  • 1. 23.12Exodus 20.9-11; 31.15; 34.21; 35.2;Leviticus 23.3;Deuteronomy 5.13, 14.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.