Exodus 20:8
in Exodus 20Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
KJV
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
23 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Remember the sabbath day--implying it was already known, and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Ex 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God--the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the government of the heart as well as the lip (Mt 5:17).
This site's exposition
Remember the Sabbath day
on Exodus 20:8-9
Remember points back to something the reader has seen, since the Sabbath is first named at 16:23 in the manna chapter. There the case was made by events, with a double portion on the sixth day and nothing found on the seventh.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
The third commandment: "Remember the sabbath day to sanctify it." This third commandment imposes a regular periodical holiday—quietness of heart, tranquility of mind, the product of a good conscience. Here is sanctification, because here is the Spirit of God. Well, here is what a true holiday, that is to say, quietness and rest, means "Upon whom," he says, "shall my spirit rest? Upon one who is humble and quiet and trembles at my words." So unquiet people are those who recoil from the Holy Spirit, loving quarrels, spreading slanders, keener on argument than on truth, and so in their restlessness they do not allow the quietness of the spiritual sabbath to enter into themselves.
We are not ordered to keep the sabbath day by a literal corporal abstinence from work, as the Jews observe it—and, indeed, that observance of theirs, because it is so commanded, is considered ludicrous unless it signifies some other spiritual rest. From this we understand that all the truths which are expressed figuratively in the Scriptures are appropriately designed to arouse love. By love we attain to rest. The only commandment that is given figuratively is the one by which rest is enjoined. Rest is universally loved but found pure and entire in God alone.However, the Lord's day was not made known to Jews but to Christians by the resurrection of the Lord, and from that event it began to acquire its solemnity. Doubtless the souls of all the saints prior to the resurrection of the body enjoy repose, but they do not possess that activity which gives power to risen bodies.
But the rite of the sabbath was taught to our ancient fathers which we Christians observe spiritually so that we abstain from all servile work, that is, from all sin (for the Lord says, "Everyone who commits a sin is a slave of sin"), and we have rest in our hearts, that is, spiritual tranquility. And, however we try in this world, we shall nevertheless not arrive at that perfect rest except when we have departed this life.
To teach a Christian anything about the observance of the sabbath would seem to be rather superfluous. On the contrary, not only is it not superfluous, but it is in fact basic, bedrock doctrine, because it is a shadow of things to come. The people, you see, are forbidden to perform servile works on the sabbath. Now are we, I ask you, not forbidden to perform servile works? Listen to the Lord: "Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." And yet to celebrate the sabbath is to hope to receive from God this very thing, of not committing sin. That's why it is written, "God rested on the seventh day from all his works." God rested; God enables you to rest. For God himself to rest, well when did he tire himself out working, seeing that he created all things with a word?
The third precept is "Remember to keep holy the sabbath day." In this third commandment is suggested a certain idea of freedom, a repose of the heart or tranquility of the mind which a good conscience effects. Indeed, sanctification is there because the Spirit of …
16 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church9 voices
This is the Third Commandment of the law, and very suitably is it so. For we are first commanded to adore God in our hearts, and the Commandment is to worship one God: "You shall not have strange gods before Me." In the Second Commandment …
Because God is triune, namely Father and Son and Holy Spirit, to whom belongs the highest majesty to be adored, truth to be professed, and charity to be embraced, according to the irascible, rational, and concupiscible powers, through the act of deed, of mouth, and …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In the first tablet are contained three commandments ordering us to God according to three things appropriated to the three divine Persons. In the first commandment is commanded the humble adoration of the divine majesty; in the second, the faithful confession of the supreme truth; …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
But the Jews mock us and say: you hold the Decalogue, and the Decalogue contained only moral precepts; but a moral precept has binding force for all time. But the seventh day, on which it is not permitted to work, counting from the first day …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
But you will say: why did he confuse and mix together moral and ceremonial precepts? - I say that this commandment: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day, is about charity: and whatever is manifest and hidden in the other commandments is consummated in this …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
God is the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. To the Father is attributed majesty, to the Son truth, and to the Holy Spirit goodness. In the Holy Spirit there is supreme goodness to be sincerely loved. In the third commandment is commanded the …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The third was the plague of gnats, by which the undevout were struck, who did not keep the Sabbath day, which is the day of devotion. Gnats are small flies, and they greatly disturb and vex men. Similarly the undevout are disturbed. In this sign …
Under the law the people were ordered to work for six days and to rest on the seventh, [and] to plow and reap for six years and desist during the seventh, because the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and desisted …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And from this fact, that He is the pious worshiper of Himself, the true witness to Himself, and the holy lover of Himself, there comes down from heaven a threefold radiation in the mind, according to the three commandments of the first tablet. For the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
A late pious Writer seems to prove, That the sabbath was changed, when Israel came out of Egypt; which change continued till our Lord rose again: But that then the Original Sabbath was restored. And he makes it highly probable, at least, That the sabbath we observe, is the seventh day from the creation.
A late pious Writer seems to prove, That the sabbath was changed, when Israel came out of Egypt; which change continued till our Lord rose again: But that then the Original Sabbath was restored. And he makes it highly probable, at least, That the sabbath we observe, is the seventh day from the creation.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. By abstaining from all servile work and business, and from all pleasures and recreations lawful on other days, and by spending it in religious exercises, both internal and external.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Remember the sabbath day--implying it was already known, and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Ex 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God--the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the government of the heart as well as the lip (Mt 5:17).
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy - See what has been already said on this precept, Gen 2:2, and elsewhere. See Clarke’s note on Gen 2:2. As this was the most ancient institution, God calls them to remember it; as if he had said, Do not forget that when I had finished my creation I instituted the Sabbath, and remember why I did so, and for what purposes.
Modern Voices2 voices
The strange truth about the matter is told in the very word "holiday." A bank holiday means presumably a day which bankers regard as holy. A half-holiday means, I suppose, a day on which a schoolboy is only partially holy. It is hard to see …
Morality did not begin by one man saying to another, "I will not hit you if you do not hit me"; there is no trace of such a transaction. There is a trace of both men having said, "We must not hit each other in …
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זָכ֛וֹר֩ | zakhor | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| י֥֨וֹם | yom | [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜ת | hashabat | the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ׃ | lekadesho | to set apart as holy it | H6942 → | 171 times |
זָכ֛וֹר֩remember
zakhorH2142 →230 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
י֥֨וֹם[the] day of
yomH3117 →2304 times
הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜תthe sabbath
hashabatH7676 →110 times
לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ׃to set apart as holy it
lekadeshoH6942 →171 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 2:3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:3
For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a…
- Mark 2:27
Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
- Ezekiel 20:12
I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
- Exodus 31:13–17
“Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD…
- Luke 23:56
Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
- Leviticus 23:3
Through
Leviticus 19:3Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
it leads to
- Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Ephesians 6:1–3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Hebrews 12:9
Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
- Exodus 20:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies28
On this chapter
- You Shall Not Covet
- Creation and Evolution
- The Creation Week
- Egypt
- Generational Curses
- How Scripture Shapes Christian Ethics
Show the next 6 titles
About Exodus
This page draws on 20 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 8.6; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 55; Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.2; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 179A.3; Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.17; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 5; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 100.4; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 6: Christmas and the Aesthetes (1905); GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Ch. 5: The Flag of the World (1908); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.