Exodus 20:11

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — The LORD addresses the assembled Israelites at Mount Sinai, placing this verse immediately after the prohibition against labor on the seventh day. It grounds the Sabbath command in the preceding creation narrative.

The words — The Hebrew כִּי (ki) operates as a causal conjunction meaning "for," directly linking the command to its rationale. The phrase שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים (she.shet ya.Mim) literally translates to "six days," specifying the exact duration of the creative work.

The thread — This creation pattern appears in Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 2:2, where God finishes His work and rests on the seventh day. Exodus 31:17 repeats the six-day creation and seventh-day rest as a perpetual sign between God and Israel.

Why it lands — The text commands the reader to cease work on the seventh day because the Creator Himself rested. It requires the reader to treat the Sabbath as a set-apart day grounded in divine action rather than human observance.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Cross-references

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 2:2 And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
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.’”
Mark 2:27 Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Psalms 95:4 In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.