“Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.
- KJV Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
- BSB “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.
- NKJV “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
- NASB “Now as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You must keep My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel must keep God's Sabbaths as a sign that Yahweh sanctifies them. The Sabbath marked Israel as God's set-apart people.
Overview
The Sabbath served as a covenant sign, pointing to the God who makes His people holy. Resting one day in seven testified that their sanctification was God's work, not their own. This anticipates the gospel rest found in Christ, who is our sanctification and in whom we cease from striving (1 Corinthians 1:30; Matthew 11:28-29). Christians differ on how the Sabbath principle applies today, while agreeing it finds its fulfillment in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ezek 20:20and make my Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God. ’
- Ezek 20:12Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.
- Lev 19:30“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.
- Exod 20:8–11“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- 1 Th 5:23May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Exod 31:17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”
- Lev 20:8You shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.
- Lev 19:3“‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- John 17:17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
- Lev 21:8You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Lev 23:3“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
- Neh 9:14and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant,
- Ezek 37:28The nations shall know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be among them forever more.
- Ezek 44:24In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths holy.
- Lev 26:2“‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.
- Lev 25:2“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh.
- John 17:19For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
- Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 31:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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