Exodus 31:16

16 The sons of Israel keep [the] sabbath, and hallow it in their generations; it is a covenant everlasting (The Israelites shall keep the sabbath, and make it holy in all their generations; it is an everlasting covenant)

Exodus 31:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 31:16

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath,
&c.] On whom the sabbath of the seventh day was only enjoined, as well as that of the seventh and of the fiftieth years, being all ceremonial and shadowy:

to observe the sabbath throughout their generations;
so long as the Mosaic dispensation lasted, and their civil polity and church state continued, even until the Messiah came, when all those Jewish shadows, rites, and ceremonies, fled away and disappeared,

for a perpetual covenant;
just in the same sense as circumcision was, ( Genesis 17:13 ) .

Exodus 31:16 In-Context

14 Keep ye my sabbath, for it is holy to you; he that defouleth it, shall die by death (he who defileth it, must be put to death); (yea,) the soul of him, that doeth work in the sabbath, shall perish from the midst of his people.

15 Six days ye shall do work; in the seventh day is sabbath, the holy rest to the Lord; each man that doeth work in this day shall die. (For six days ye shall do work; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, which is holy to the Lord; any person who doeth work on this day must be put to death.)

16 The sons of Israel keep [the] sabbath, and hallow it in their generations; it is a covenant everlasting (The Israelites shall keep the sabbath, and make it holy in all their generations; it is an everlasting covenant)

17 betwixt me and the sons of Israel, and it is a sign everlasting; for in six days God made heaven and earth, and in the seventh day he ceased of work. (between me and the Israelites, and it is an everlasting sign; for in six days God made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work.)

18 And when he had [ful]filled to speak to Moses, the Lord gave to Moses, in the hill of Sinai, two stone tables of witnessing, written with the finger of God. (And when he had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, the Lord gave Moses the two stone tablets of the Witnessing, that is, the Law, written with the finger of God.)