Bible Strands
Genesis 2:3
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — No one speaks; this is the narrator's voice closing the creation week. God has finished all work (v. 2) and now acts on the seventh day itself.
The words — קָדַשׁ (qādaš, H6942) means "set apart as holy," the root of qādōš; it is the first time in the text that something is made holy, and what is made holy here is a day, not a place or a person.
The thread — The same verb appears in Ezekiel 20:12 ("I am the LORD who sanctifies them"), linking the seventh day to God's identity as the one who sets apart. Leviticus 23:3 codifies the day as a Sabbath of complete rest and sacred assembly; Mark 2:27 has Jesus reorient the institution toward human need.
Why it lands — Rest is not the absence of work but a positive, holy act that God himself performs and then commands. The verse asks the reader to treat the seventh day as something God has made, not something they have earned or chosen.
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
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.
Cross-references
- 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 Sabbath to the LORD.
- 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.
- Mark 2:27 Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
- Exodus 31:13 “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
- Luke 23:56 Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
- 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 35:2 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 to death.
- Leviticus 25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
- Jeremiah 17:21 This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
- Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.