Deuteronomy 5:12

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God commanded thee.

Deuteronomy 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 12,13. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it
Or observe it, by setting it apart as a time of natural rest, and for the performance of holy and religious exercises; see ( Exodus 20:8 ) , where the phrase is a little varied, "remember the sabbath day to keep it holy"; it having been instituted before:

as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee;
not at Sinai only, for the same might then have been observed of all the rest of the commands, but before the giving of the law, at the first of the manna; see ( Exodus 16:23 ) .

Deuteronomy 5:12 In-Context

10 and doing mercifully to thousands of them that love me, and that keep my commandments.

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord thy God will certainly not acquit him that takes his name in vain.

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt work, and thou shalt do all thy works;

14 but on the seventh day the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do in it no work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thine ox, and thine ass, and all thy cattle, and the stranger that sojourns in the midst of thee; that thy man-servant may rest, and thy maid, and thine ox, as well as thou.