Exodus 31:14

14 Kepe my Sabbath therfore, that it be an holye thynge vnto you. He that defileth it, shalbe slayne therfore. For whosoeuer worketh therein, the same soule shalbe roted out from amonge his people.

Exodus 31:14 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 31:14

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore
Strictly observe it, according to the rules given concerning it:

for it is holy unto you;
a day that was set apart of God for holy exercises, peculiarly on their account:

everyone that defileth it;
by doing any servile work upon it, or not observing it in a religious way;

shall surely be put to death;
by the hand of the civil magistrate; if the law of the Jewish sabbath is now in force, the sanction continues, and the violation of it ought to be punished by a judge with death:

for whosoever doeth any work therein;
so much as to kindle a fire, and dress any food, by boiling or roasting, or any other way:

that soul shall be cut off from among his people;
that is, shall die by the hand of the civil magistrate, it being but another phrase for being put to death; though the Jewish writers, particularly Jarchi, understand the former phrase, "put to death", as to be done by a civil magistrate, when there are witnesses and full proof of the case; but this of "cutting off" by the hand of God, by immediate punishment from heaven, when it was done secretly, and there was no proof to be made of it.

Exodus 31:14 In-Context

12 And the Lorde spake vnto Moses sayng:

13 speake uto the childern of Israel ad saye: i any wyse se that ye kepe my Sabbath, for it shalbe a sygne betwene me and you in youre generacions for to knowe, that I the Lorde doo sanctifie you.

14 Kepe my Sabbath therfore, that it be an holye thynge vnto you. He that defileth it, shalbe slayne therfore. For whosoeuer worketh therein, the same soule shalbe roted out from amonge his people.

15 Sixe dayes shall men worke, but the seuenth daye is the Sabbath of the holye reste of the Lorde: so that whosoeuer doeth any worke in the Sabbath daye, shal dye for it.

16 wherfore let the childern of Israel kepe the Sabbath, that they obserue it thorowe out their generacions, that it be an appoyntement for euer.