Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- BSB Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
- ESV Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
- NKJV ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
- NASB Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.
- NLT “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Each person is to respect mother and father and keep God's Sabbaths.
Overview
This verse pairs honoring parents with keeping the Sabbath, joining the fifth and fourth commandments and showing the moral law's continuity. Notably, mother is named first, affirming the honor due to both parents. Reverence for family and for God's holy rhythms together express a life ordered around God's character.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Exod 20:12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
- Exod 20:8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Heb 12:9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
- Eph 6:1–3Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
- Ezek 22:7–8In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
- Lev 11:44For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Prov 30:17The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
- Deut 21:18–21If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
- Exod 16:29See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
- Prov 23:22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
- Prov 30:11There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
- Matt 15:4–6For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
- Isa 58:13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
- Exod 31:13–17Speak 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.
- Exod 21:17And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
- Deut 27:16Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
- Exod 21:15And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
- Mal 1:6A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
- Ezek 20:12Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
- Lev 26:2Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
- Prov 6:20–21My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
- Isa 56:4–6For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
- Prov 1:8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:3 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.