Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day.’”
- KJV Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
- NKJV You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
- NASB You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
- NLT You must not even light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath.”
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
No fire is to be kindled in Israelite homes on the Sabbath.
Overview
This specific application of Sabbath rest forbade even ordinary domestic labor like kindling fires, underscoring how complete the day's rest was to be. It taught Israel to depend on God rather than constant toil. The command highlights the seriousness of honoring God's appointed rest, ultimately fulfilled in the rest Christ gives His people (Matthew 11:28).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Exod 16:23He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Then set aside whatever remains and keep it until morning.’”
- Exod 12:16On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
- Num 15:32–36While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
- Isa 58:13If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 35:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.