Exodus 31:15
in Exodus 31For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Jehovah: whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
KJV
Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
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This verse in Exodus 31
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
They might suppose that the erection of the tabernacle was a sacred work, and that it would be a high merit, an acceptable tribute, to prosecute the undertaking without the interruption of a day's repose; and therefore the caution here given, at the commencement of the undertaking, was a seasonable admonition.
This site's exposition
Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you
on Exodus 31:14-15
The Sabbath command carries a death penalty here, as the people are about to begin building. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the placement as a guard against thinking sacred work earns an exemption from the seventh day.
This site's exposition
a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD
Moses repeats this verse nearly word for word at 35:2, and 35:3 adds a ban on lighting a fire. Matthew Henry reads holy to the LORD as a day set apart from common use for God's honour. Ambrose of Milan saw in it the perpetual sabbath to come.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
They were also commanded to keep the holiday of the Sabbath one day in the week, so as to be subjected to no burthen, and I would that being thus released from earthly works they had escaped, carrying with them to that perpetual sabbath of future ages the burthen of heavy crimes. But as God knew how prone to fall the people were, He enjoined a part upon the weaker by the observance of one day, He reserved the fulness for the stronger: the Synagogue observes the day, the Church immortality.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Indeed by the fleshly sabbath, which was kept according to the letter, the people were ordered to keep free from all servile work on the seventh day. [The meaning of] the spiritual sabbath, in the light of the sevenfold spiritual grace which we have received, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
12 ); and here it is added to the first part of the ceremonial law, because the observance of the sabbath is indeed the hem and hedge of the whole law; where no conscience is made of that, farewell both godliness and honesty; for, in the moral law, it stands in the midst between the two tables.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
Aholiab of the tribe of Dan. is appointed next to Bezaleel, and partner with him. Hiram, who was the head-workman in the building of Solomon's temple, was also of the tribe of Daniel, 2 Chron. ii,
Six days may work be done;....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is separated from common use, and designed for the honour and service of God, and by the observance of it we are taught to rest from worldly pursuits and the service of the flesh, and to devote ourselves, and all we are, have, and can do, to God's glory. (4.) It was to be observed throughout their generations, in every age, for a perpetual covenant.
The delivering of the two tables of testimony to Moses. God had promised him these tables when he called him up into the mount ( ch. xxiv. 12 ), and now, when he was sending him down, he delivered them to him, to be carefully and honourably deposited in the ark,
How the passage was read
On Exodus 31:12-17On Exodus 31:12-17
Why the Sabbath became the identity marker
This is the passage that makes the Sabbath, the seventh day of rest, a covenant sign: “a sign between me and you throughout your generations,” with the death penalty attached. A sign carrying that weight had to be guarded, and over the centuries a detailed fence of rules grew around the short written command. The tradition itself noticed how thin the written base is for so large a structure: the Mishnah, the first great code of Jewish oral law (about AD 200), says the laws of the Sabbath are “like mountains suspended by a hair,” much law hanging on little Scripture (Chagigah 1:8).
Two more facts frame every Sabbath argument in the Gospels. First, the sign was worth dying for: under the persecution of Antiochus (167 BC), pious Jews let themselves be killed rather than fight on the Sabbath, until the Maccabees ruled that self-defense overrides the day (this site's 1 Maccabees study tells that story). Second, the later tradition taught, from this very passage, that the day serves the people and not the reverse: “Shabbat is given into your hands, and you are not given to it” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 85b, in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya's circle), and that one Sabbath may be desecrated to save a life so that many Sabbaths may be kept. Every collision Jesus has over this day happens inside that live discussion.
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.
Sources: Mishnah Chagigah 1:8 (“mountains suspended by a hair”) · Yoma 85b (Babylonian Talmud: the Sabbath given into your hands) · 1 Maccabees (this site's study; the Sabbath martyrs)
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שֵׁ֣שֶׁת | sheshet | six | H8337 → | 216 times |
| יָמִים֮ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה | yeaseh | it will be done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מְלָאכָה֒ | melakhah | work | H4399 → | 167 times |
| וּבַיּ֣וֹם | uvaiyom | and [will be] on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י | hashevii | <the> seventh | H7637 → | 98 times |
| שַׁבַּ֧ת | shabat | a sabbath of | H7676 → | 110 times |
| שַׁבָּת֛וֹן | shabaton | sabbath observance | H7677 → | 11 times |
| קֹ֖דֶשׁ | kodesh | a holy thing | H6944 → | 469 times |
| לַיהוָ֑ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעֹשֶׂ֧ה | haoseh | <the> [one who] does | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מְלָאכָ֛ה | melakhah | work | H4399 → | 167 times |
| בְּי֥וֹם | beyom | on [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשַּׁבָּ֖ת | hashabat | the sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| מ֥וֹת | mot | certainly <to die> | H4191 → | 839 times |
| יוּמָֽת׃ | yumat | he will be put to death | H4191 → | 839 times |
שֵׁ֣שֶׁתsix
sheshetH8337 →216 times
יָמִים֮days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
יֵעָשֶׂ֣הit will be done
yeasehH6213 →2628 times
מְלָאכָה֒work
melakhahH4399 →167 times
וּבַיּ֣וֹםand [will be] on the day
uvaiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י<the> seventh
hasheviiH7637 →98 times
שַׁבַּ֧תa sabbath of
shabatH7676 →110 times
שַׁבָּת֛וֹןsabbath observance
shabatonH7677 →11 times
קֹ֖דֶשׁa holy thing
kodeshH6944 →469 times
לַיהוָ֑הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָעֹשֶׂ֧ה<the> [one who] does
haosehH6213 →2628 times
מְלָאכָ֛הwork
melakhahH4399 →167 times
בְּי֥וֹםon [the] day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
הַשַּׁבָּ֖תthe sabbath
hashabatH7676 →110 times
מ֥וֹתcertainly <to die>
motH4191 →839 times
יוּמָֽת׃he will be put to death
yumatH4191 →839 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 2:2And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
it leads to
- Exodus 20:8–11
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- 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 3 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 5:14
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 4:4
For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this manner: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.”
- Exodus 31:17
It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”
- Exodus 20:8–11
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 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…
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
Through
Exodus 16:23He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake, and boil…
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…
- Leviticus 23:3
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 74.5; Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.23; 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.