Exodus 31:15

15 [On] six days work can be done, and on the seventh {is a Sabbath of complete rest}, {a holy day} for Yahweh; anyone doing work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death.

Exodus 31:15 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 31:15

Six days may work be done;
&c.] Allowed to be done by an Israelite, if he would; for this is not a command to work, but a permission or grant to do it; and therefore, seeing they had so many days granted them for their use, it could not be thought hard and unreasonable that God should claim one day in seven for his own use and service, and oblige them to refrain from work on it:

but in the seventh [is] the sabbath of rest;
from worldly labour, and was typical of spiritual rest here, and eternal rest hereafter:

holy to the Lord;
separated from other days, and entirely devoted to the worship and service of God, and to be kept holy to the Lord in all holy and religious exercises, as hearing and reading the word, praying, praising

whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, [he] shall surely be
put to death;
the Targum of Jonathan adds, by casting stones, and so we find that the first transgressor of this law we read of was stoned to death, ( Numbers 15:35 Numbers 15:36 ) .

Exodus 31:15 In-Context

13 "And you, speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, because it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations, [in order] to know that I [am] Yahweh, who consecrates you.

14 And you must keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; defilers of it will surely be put to death, because anyone who does work on it--that person will be cut off from among his people.

15 [On] six days work can be done, and on the seventh {is a Sabbath of complete rest}, {a holy day} for Yahweh; anyone doing work on the Sabbath day will surely be put to death.

16 The {Israelites} will pay attention to the Sabbath [in order] to fulfill the Sabbath throughout their generations [as] a lasting covenant.

17 It [is] a sign between me and the {Israelites} forever, because [in] six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "a Sabbath of 'Sabbathation.'" "Sabbathation" is not a real word, but devised as an attempt to convey the sounds of the related nouns in the Hebrew phrase
• [b]. Literally "holiness"