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 refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses delivers this command to Israel in the wilderness following the Sinai covenant, directly after the regulations for the seventh-year land rest. The directive extends that agricultural pause into a weekly rhythm for the entire community.

The words — The text uses שֵׁ֤שֶׁת (She.shet) for "six" and יָמִים֙ (ya.Mim) for "days," paired with תִּשְׁבֹּ֑ת (tish.Bot), meaning "you will rest" or "cease." These terms establish the fixed seven-day cycle of labor and cessation.

The thread — This weekly cessation pattern echoes the Sabbath command in Exodus 20:8 and the Sabbath year rest in Exodus 23:11, while later texts like Exodus 31:15 and Luke 13:14 reference the same six-days-work, seventh-day-rest structure.

Why it lands — The verse requires readers to halt labor on the seventh day to ensure rest and refreshment for livestock, servants, and foreigners. It demands practical obedience that prioritizes communal and creaturely relief over continuous productivity.

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

שֵׁ֤שֶׁתShe.shetsix יָמִים֙ya.Mimdays תַּעֲשֶׂ֣הta.'a.Sehyou will do מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָma.'a.Sei./khawork<s>/ your וּבַיּ֥וֹםu./vai./Yomand/ on the/ day הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖יha./she.vi.'I<the>/ seventh תִּשְׁבֹּ֑תtish.Botyou will rest לְמַ֣עַןle.Ma.'anso that יָנ֗וּחַya.Nu.achit may rest שֽׁוֹרְךָ֙shor./Khaox/ your וַחֲמֹרֶ֔ךָva./cha.mo.Re./khaand/ donkey/ your וְיִנָּפֵ֥שׁve./yi.na.Feshso/ he may refresh himself בֶּן־ben-[the] child of אֲמָתְךָ֖'a.ma.te./Khafemale slave/ your וְהַגֵּֽר׃ve./ha./Gerand/ the/ sojourner

King James Version

Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

Cross-references

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 the Sabbath.”
Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Exodus 31:15 For 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.
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.
Exodus 35:3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Deuteronomy 5:13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Isaiah 58:3 “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.