Exodus 20:9
in Exodus 20Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;
KJV
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
5 notes on this verseSix days shalt thou labor - Therefore he who idles away time on any of the six days, is as guilty before God as he who works on the Sabbath. No work should be done on the Sabbath that can be done on the preceding days, or can be deferred to the succeeding ones. Works of absolute necessity and mercy are alone excepted. He who works by his servants or cattle is equally guilty as if he worked himself.
This site's exposition
Remember the sabbath day
on Exodus 20:8-9
Remember points back to something the reader has already seen, since sabbath first occurs at Exodus 16:23 in the manna chapter, four chapters before this commandment. There the case was made by events rather than by law, with a double portion on the sixth day, worms in what was kept over on any other day, and men who went out to gather on the seventh and found nothing. Genesis 2:2-3 has God resting and blessing and sanctifying the seventh day while never using the noun.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Now for the work of virtue, six things are required corresponding to the works of the six days, which are provident circumspection, right intention, pure affection, just or right election, vigorous prosecution, and charitable formation. The first, then, is understood in the work of the …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
He commands imitation of himself, when he says: Six days you shall labor. Concerning this imitation the Apostle says: Be imitators of God, as most beloved children: and in Luke it is said: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Now there are six …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Six days shalt thou labour,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, “the stranger of the gate” is always the geir toshav, 460 Literally: “resident alien,” so called because he was permitted to dwell within the Land of Israel.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת | sheshet | six | H8337 → | 216 times |
| יָמִ֣ים֙ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ | taavod | you will labor | H5647 → | 288 times |
| וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ | veasita | and you will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒׃ | melakhtekha | work your | H4399 → | 167 times |
שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁתsix
sheshetH8337 →216 times
יָמִ֣ים֙days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮you will labor
taavodH5647 →288 times
וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָand you will do
veasitaH6213 →2628 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒׃work your
melakhtekhaH4399 →167 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
Exodus 35:2For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put…
it leads to
- Exodus 34:21
Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Luke 13:14–15
But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on…
- 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…
- Exodus 34:21
Through
Leviticus 23:3For 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…
it leads to
- Exodus 23:12
For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 20:8–11
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 19:3
Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
- Exodus 35:2–3
For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put…
- Exodus 23:12
Through
Exodus 23:12For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be…
it leads to
- Luke 13:14
But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 13:14
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.