Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
- KJV Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
- NKJV “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
- NASB “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.
- NLT “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest.
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 work six days and rest the seventh, even during the busiest farming seasons.
Overview
The Sabbath command is restated with special force: even plowing and harvest, when labor pressed hardest, must yield to rest. This guarded Israel from trusting their own toil rather than God's provision. The Sabbath ultimately points to the rest believers find in Christ, who invites the weary to come to Him (Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 4:9-10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 23:12For 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.
- Exod 35:2For 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.
- Deut 21:4bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
- 1 Sam 8:12He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, to make his weapons of war, and to equip his chariots.
- Luke 13:14But 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.”
- Luke 23:56Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.
- Isa 30:24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
- Deut 5:12–15Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
- Exod 20:9–11Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
- Gen 45:6For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
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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 34:21 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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