Exodus 31:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 31:13
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.
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
children
בְּנֵ֤יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Verily
אַ֥ךְ'akh
H389
a particle of affirmation · adverb
sabbaths
שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖יsha.be.to.Tai
H7676
intermission · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
keep
תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּtish.Mo.ru
H8104
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
sign
א֨וֹת'ot
H226
a signal (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine singular construct
generations
לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םle.do.Ro.tei.Khem
H1755
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
know
לָדַ֕עַתla.Da.'at
H3045
to know (properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
sanctify
מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽםme.ka.dish.Khem
H6942
to be (causatively · verb, piel active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover 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.
Ezekiel 20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he reste…
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of…
Leviticus 20:8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.
Leviticus 19:3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 31:12–end
Here is, I. A strict command for the sanctification of the sabbath day, Exo 31:13-17. The law of the sabbath had been given them before any other law, by was of preparation (Exo 16:23); it had been inserted in the body of the moral law, in the fourth commandment; it had been annexed to the judicial law (Exo 23:12); and here it is added to the first part of the ceremonial law, because the observance of the sabbath is indeed the hem and hedge of the whole law; where no conscience is made of that, farewell both godliness and honesty; for, in the moral law, it stands in the midst between the two tables. Some suggest that it comes in here upon another account. Orders were now given that a taberna…
Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep--The reason for the fresh inculcation of the fourth commandment at this particular period was, that the great ardor and eagerness, with which all classes betook themselves to the construction of the tabernacle, exposed them to the temptation of encroaching on the sanctity of the appointed day of rest. They might suppose that the erection of the tabernacle was a sacred work, and that it would be a high merit, an acceptable tribute, to prosecute the undertaking without the interruption of a day's repose; and therefore the caution here given, at the commencement of the undertaking, was a seasonable admonition.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 31:13
My Sabbaths ye shall keep - See Clarke's note on Gen 2:3. See Clarke's note on Exo 20:8.
John Gill on Exodus 31:13
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel,.... Notwithstanding all that has been said and ordered concerning making the tabernacle and all things belonging to it; yet this was not to be understood to the violation of the sabbath, or the neglect of that, in which no work was to be done, no, not any relating to the tabernacle and the vessels of it; and though that was to be made, and everything belonging to it, as soon as possible, yet the sabbath was to be observed, and not broken on that account; and this the people of Israel were told of:
saying; verily, or "nevertheless" (q):
my sabbaths ye shall keep not sabbaths of years, as the seventh year and the fiftieth year, but of weeks, expre…
The Church Fathers
What does it mean that, by commanding the Sabbath to be kept, the Scripture says, "It will be an everlasting covenant in me and in the children of Israel?" (Ex 31,16.17) It does not say: between me and the children of Israel. Does he say it this way perhaps because the Sabbath means rest and we have no rest except in it? Because, evidently, he calls the children of Israel all his people, that is, the descendants of Abraham. And there is one Israel according to the flesh and another according to the spirit. For if only Israel were called descendants according to the flesh, the Apostle would not say: See Israel according to the flesh (1Co 10,18). Here, of course, it indicates that there is an Israel according to the spirit, who is a Jew in the interior and in the circumcision of the flesh (Rm 2,29). Therefore, perhaps it is necessary to make a separation, reading like this: It will be an eternal covenant in me. And then the other meaning would be: And for the children of Israel it will be an eternal sign, that is, a sign of an eternal thing, as, for example, the stone was Christ, because the stone signified Christ (Cf 1Co 10,4). Therefore, it is not necessary to unite the phrase thus: It will be eternal covenant in me and in the children of Israel, as if this covenant was in God and in the children of Israel. But it must be put like this: It will be eternal covenant in me - because in God eternal rest has been promised - and for the children of Israel it will be an eternal sign, because the children of Israel received this sign to keep it, a sign that means rest eternal for the true Israelites, that is, for the children of the promise (Cf Ga 4,28) and for those who will see God face to face as it is. 140 (Ex 31.18). Immediately after he ceased speaking with him, he gave Moses on Mount Sinai the two tables of the covenant, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God. Even though God has spoken so much, he gives Moses two tablets of stone, called tables of the covenant, which they would have to put in the ark. It is not strange that all the other things that God commanded are understood to depend on those ten commandments, written in the two tables, if they are investigated with diligence and understood correctly. Just as these ten commandments depend, in turn, on those two, the love of God and neighbor, on which all the law and the prophets depend (Mt…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Blessing · SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD — SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD
Church Of Israel · Was relatively holy — Was relatively holy
Sabbath · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Sabbath, The · A sign of the covenant — A sign of the covenant
Sanctification · The Lord is the Sanctifier — The Lord is the Sanctifier
Sanitation · REST COMMAN — REST COMMAN
Token · The Sabbath day — The Sabbath day
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Exodus 31:12-17
12. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12. Dixit praeterea Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:
13. 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.
13. Et tu alloquere filios Israel, dicendo: Veruntamen Sabbatha mea custodietis: qnia signum eat inter me et vos in generationibus vestris, ut sciatis quod sum Jehova sanctiffcans vos.
14. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off…
(cf. Exo 35:2-3). God concludes by enforcing the observance of His Sabbaths in the most solemn manner, repeating the threat of death and extermination in the case of every transgressor. The repetition and further development of this command, which was included already in the decalogue, is quite in its proper place here, inasmuch as the thought might easily have occurred, that it was allowable to omit the keeping of the Sabbath, when the execution of so great a work in honour of Jehovah had been commanded. "My Sabbaths:" by these we are to understand the weekly Sabbaths, not the other sabbatical festivals, since the words which follow apply to the weekly Sabbath alone. This was "a sign betwee…
The Sabbath was understood to be the unique sign of the covenant (31:13, 16, 17; see also 20:8-11; Isa 58:13-14; Jer 17:21-27; Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath is also said to figure significantly in the achievement of God’s underlying purpose of making his people holy, that is, set apart for his exclusive use and sharing his character (Exod 31:13, 14, 15). Resting from their own work (31:15, 17) was also a practical way of demonstrating genuine dependence on God to meet their needs (see 20:8-11 and study notes).
Rashi on Exodus 31:13
ואתה דבר אל בני ישראל SPEAK THOU ALSO UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — AND thou, although I have given thee charge to command them concerning the work of the Tabernacle let it not appear a light thing to thee to set the Sabbath aside on account of that work.
אך את שבתתי תשמרו BUT NEVERTHELESS MY SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP — Even though you be anxious and alert to do the work promptly the Sabbath nevertheless you must not set aside on its account. The words אך and רק wherever they occur in Scripture have limitative force (Rosh Hashanah 17b; cf. Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 17b on אכין ורקין). Here Scripture intends by the word אך to except the Sabbath from the days on which the work of the Tabernacle may…
