Genesis 2:3
in Genesis 2Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
KJV
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
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This verse in Genesis 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verseAnd God blessed the seventh day - The original word ברך barach, which is generally rendered to bless, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of speaking good of or to a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint ευλογησεν, from ευ, good or well, and λεγω, I speak. So God has spoken well of the Sabbath, and good to them who conscientiously observe it.
This site's exposition
the heavens and the earth were completed
on Genesis 2:1-3
The heavens and the earth were completed, and God finished His work by the seventh day and rested. The seventh day alone is left open at its end, and Hebrews 4:9 reads that as a rest still held out to God's people. God blessed and sanctified the day, so the first thing set apart in Scripture is a piece of time. Exodus 20:11 grounds the Sabbath on these verses.
This site's exposition
blessed the seventh day
Adam Clarke noted that barach, the Hebrew verb for blessed, often means to speak good of, and the Septuagint rendered it that way. God blessed the seventh day and spoke well of it. To sanctify the day was to set it apart for Himself, for on that day He rested.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Just as the trees, the vegetation, the animals, the birds and even humankind were old, so also were they young. They were old according to the appearance of their limbs and their substances, yet they were young because of the hour and moment of their …
Heaven, too, will be the fulfillment of that sabbath rest foretold in the command: "Be still and see that I am God." This, indeed, will be that ultimate sabbath that has no evening and that the Lord foreshadowed in the account of his creation: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. And he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work that God created and made." And we ourselves will be a "seventh day" when we shall be filled with his blessing and remade by his sanctification. In the stillness of that rest we shall see that he is the God whose divinity we desired for ourselves when we listened to the seducer's words, "You shall be as gods," and so fell away from him, the true God who would have given us a divinity by participation that could never be gained by desertion. For where did the doing without God end but in the undoing of man through the anger of God? Only when we are remade by God and perfected by a greater grace shall we have the eternal stillness of that rest in which we shall see that he is God.
The Medieval Church3 voices
And He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He had rested from all His work which God had created and made. That is, having completed the adornment of the world, He had ceased from instituting new kinds of things.
He blessed: The blessing referred to the increase by multiplication; for which reason God said to the creatures which He blessed: "Increase and multiply." Now, this increase is effected through God's Providence over His creatures, securing the generation of like from like.
And He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. That is to say, with the blessing and sanctification which He more fully intimates to His people in the law, saying: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,....
The sabbath day is a blessed day, for God blessed it, and that which he blesses is blessed indeed. God has put an honour upon it, has appointed us, on that day, to bless him, and has promised, on that day, to meet us and bless us. The sabbath day is a holy day, for God has sanctified it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
blessed and sanctified the seventh day--a peculiar distinction put upon it above the other six days, and showing it was devoted to sacred purposes. The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation, giving rise to that weekly division of time which prevailed in the earliest ages.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Modern Voices1 voice
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.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ | vayvarekh | and he blessed | H1288 → | 330 times |
| אֱלֹהִים֙ | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| י֣וֹם | yom | [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י | hashevii | <the> seventh | H7637 → | 98 times |
| וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ | vaykadesh | and he set apart as holy | H6942 → | |
| אֹת֑וֹ | ʾoto | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| ב֤וֹ | vo | on <the> it | ||
| שָׁבַת֙ | shavat | he rested | H7673 → | 71 times |
| מִכָּל־ | mikol | from all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ | melakhto | work his | H4399 → | 167 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בָּרָ֥א | bara' | he had created | H1254 → | 55 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֖ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ פ | laasot | to make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
וַיְבָ֤רֶךְand he blessed
vayvarekhH1288 →330 times
אֱלֹהִים֙God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
י֣וֹם[the] day
yomH3117 →2304 times
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י<the> seventh
hasheviiH7637 →98 times
וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁand he set apart as holy
vaykadeshH6942 →
אֹת֑וֹ<obj.> it
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
ב֤וֹon <the> it
vo
שָׁבַת֙he rested
shavatH7673 →71 times
מִכָּל־from all
mikolH3605 →5413 times
מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹwork his
melakhtoH4399 →167 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
בָּרָ֥אhe had created
bara'H1254 →55 times
אֱלֹהִ֖יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ פto make
laasotH6213 →2628 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
Mark 2:27Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
it leads to
- 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.
- Colossians 2:16
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
- Luke 6:9
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
- 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.
- Isaiah 58:13
If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor…
- Deuteronomy 5:14
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
- 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 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…
- Leviticus 19:3
Through
Ezekiel 20:12I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:20
Keep My Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us, so that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’
- Ezekiel 20:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
On this chapter
About Genesis
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 22.30; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 1.24.1; GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 6: Christmas and the Aesthetes (1905); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary (church-history corpus).