Exodus 31:12-18

Provision of Rest from Work

12 And Yahweh spoke to Moses [and] said,

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."

18 And when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 31:12-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 31

In this chapter an account is given of the persons whom God had chosen, and qualified for the work of building the tabernacle, and all things relating to it, and for the direction and oversight thereof, Ex 31:1-6 and an enumeration is made of the several things that were to be wrought, some in one way, some in another, Ex 31:7-11 the law of the sabbath is repeated, and the violation of it made death, Ex 31:12-17 and the chapter is concluded with observing, that at the close of the above orders, two tables of stone, with the law written upon them by the finger of God, were given to Moses, Ex 31:18.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Or "profaners," those who treat it as common
• [c]. 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
• [d]. Literally "holiness"
• [e]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [f]. Or "keep the Sabbath to do/observe the Sabbath"
• [g]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [h]. Or "rested"
• [i]. Or "breathed freely," "got his breath"