Exodus 31:15

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.

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 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.

17 For it shalbe a sygne betwene me, and the childern of Israel for euer. For in sixe dayes the Lorde made heauen and erth, and the seuenth daye he rested and was refresshed.