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Saturday, July 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Contemporary English Version

Exodus 31:17

This day will always serve as a reminder, both to me and to the Israelites, that I made the heavens and the earth in six days, then on the seventh day I rested and relaxed.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Anthropomorphisms;   Sabbath;   Sanitation;   Token;   The Topic Concordance - Creation;   Earth;   Heaven/the Heavens;   Sabbath;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Creation;   Sabbath, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abstain, Abstinence;   Create, Creation;   Sabbath;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Capital Punishment;   Crimes and Punishments;   Exodus, Book of;   Sabbath;   Sign;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Feasts;   Moses;   Sabbath;   Tabernacle;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Sabbath;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Law in the Old Testament;   Refresh;   Sabbath;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ceremonies and the Ceremonial Law;   Covenant;   Memra;   Symbol;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
It is a sign between me and the children of Yisra'el forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and eretz, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.'"
King James Version
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 rested, and was refreshed.
Lexham English Bible
It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever, because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered."
New Century Version
The Sabbath day will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, because in six days I, the Lord , made the sky and the earth. On the seventh day I did not work; I rested.'"
New English Translation
It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"
Amplified Bible
"It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased and was refreshed."
New American Standard Bible
"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."
Geneva Bible (1587)
It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for euer: for in sixe dayes the Lorde made the heauen and the earth, & in the seuenth day he ceased, and rested.
Legacy Standard Bible
It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
Complete Jewish Bible
It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"
Darby Translation
It shall be a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for [in] six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Easy-to-Read Version
The Sabbath will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever.'" (The Lord worked six days and made the sky and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and relaxed.)
English Standard Version
It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"
George Lamsa Translation
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and the seas and all that are therein, and on the seventh day he ceased from work and rested.
Good News Translation
It is a permanent sign between the people of Israel and me, because I, the Lord , made heaven and earth in six days, and on the seventh day I stopped working and rested."
Christian Standard Bible®
It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
Literal Translation
It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
An euerlastynge token is it betwixte me and the children of Israel. For in sixe dayes made the LORDE heaue & earth, but vpon ye seuenth daye he rested, and was refreshed.
American Standard Version
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Bible in Basic English
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he took his rest and had pleasure in it.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For it is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for euer: for in six dayes the Lorde made heauen and earth, and in the seuenth day he rested and was refreshed.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
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 ceased from work and rested.'
King James Version (1611)
It is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for euer: for in sixe dayes the Lord made heauen and earth, and on the seuenth day he rested, and was refreshed.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
It is a perpetual covenant with me and the children of Israel, it is a perpetual sign with me; for in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day he ceased, and rested.
English Revised Version
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 rested, and was refreshed.
Berean Standard Bible
It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
it is a couenaunt euerlastinge bitwixe me and the sones of Israel, and it is `a signe euerlastynge; for in sixe daies God made heuene and erthe, and in the seuenthe day he ceessid of werk.
Young's Literal Translation
between Me and the sons of Israel it [is] a sign -- to the age; for six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and in the seventh day He hath ceased, and is refreshed.'
Update Bible Version
It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever: for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Webster's Bible Translation
[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 rested and was refreshed.
World English Bible
It 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.'"
New King James Version
It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."'
New Living Translation
It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.'"
New Life Bible
It is something special between Me and the people of Israel forever. For the Lord made heaven and earth in six days. But He stopped working and rested on the seventh day."
New Revised Standard
It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
between me and the sons of Israel, a sign it is unto times age-abiding, - for in six days, did Yahweh make the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day, he rested, and was refreshed.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Between me and the children of Israel, and a perpetual sign. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh he ceased from work.
Revised Standard Version
It is a sign for ever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.'"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."

Contextual Overview

12Moses told the Israelites that the Lord had said: The Sabbath belongs to me. Now I command you and your descendants to always obey the laws of the Sabbath. By doing this, you will know that I have chosen you as my own. 14Keep the Sabbath holy. You have six days to do your work, but the Sabbath is mine, and it must remain a day of rest. If you work on the Sabbath, you will no longer be part of my people, and you will be put to death. 16 Every generation of Israelites must respect the Sabbath. 17 This day will always serve as a reminder, both to me and to the Israelites, that I made the heavens and the earth in six days, then on the seventh day I rested and relaxed. 18 When God had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two flat stones on which he had written all of his laws with his own hand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a sign: Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:12, Ezekiel 20:20

six days: Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:2, Genesis 2:3, Hebrews 4:3, Hebrews 4:4, Hebrews 4:10

and was refreshed: God, in condescension to human weakness, applies to himself here what belongs to man; though it may refer to the delight and satisfaction with which he contemplated the completion of all his works, and pronounced them very good. Genesis 1:31, Job 38:7, Psalms 104:31, Jeremiah 32:41

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:1 - Thus Genesis 17:8 - everlasting Exodus 20:11 - General Exodus 31:15 - Six days Romans 4:11 - the sign

Cross-References

Genesis 24:10
Soon after that, the servant loaded ten of Abraham's camels with valuable gifts. Then he set out for the city in northern Syria, where Abraham's brother Nahor lived.
Genesis 24:61
Afterwards, Rebekah and the young women who were to travel with her prepared to leave. Then they got on camels and left with Abraham's servant and his men.
1 Samuel 30:17
David attacked just before sunrise the next day and fought until sunset. Four hundred Amalekites rode away on camels, but they were the only ones who escaped.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever,.... In like sense as the land of Canaan was given them for an everlasting possession; and the covenant of circumcision, and the ordinance of the passover, and the fast on the day of atonement, were for ever; that is, unto the end of the Jewish world and state, at the coming of Christ, when a new world and state of things began, see

Genesis 17:8

for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed; which is to be understood figuratively after the manner of men, who ceasing from toil and labour find rest and refreshment; but not really and properly, for as not labour, and weariness, and fatigue, so neither rest nor refreshment can be properly said of God; but this denotes his cessation from the works of creation, though not of providence, and of the delight and pleasure he takes in a view of them; this is observed, not as the foundation of this law, and the reason of its being made, but as an illustration of it, and as an argument, showing the reasonableness of it, and the similarity of it with what God himself had done, and therefore the enjoining of it could not reasonably be objected to.

Genesis 17:8- :.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The penal law of the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2-3. In the fourth commandment the injunction to observe the seventh day is addressed to the conscience of the people (see Exodus 20:8 note): in this place, the object is to declare an infraction of the commandment to be a capital offence. The two passages stand in a relation to each other similar to that between Leviticus 18:0, Leviticus 19:0, and Leviticus 20:0. It seems likely that the penal edict was especially introduced as a caution in reference to the construction of the tabernacle, lest the people, in their zeal to carry on the work, should be tempted to break the divine law for the observance of the day.

Exodus 31:14

See Numbers 15:32-36. The distinction between the meaning of the two expressions, “to be cut off from the people”, and “to be put to death”, is here indicated. He who was cut off from the people had, by his offence, put himself out of the terms of the covenant, and was an outlaw. On such, and on such alone, when the offence was one which affected the well-being of the nation, as it was in this case, death could be inflicted by the public authority.

Exodus 31:17

Was refreshed - Literally, “he took breath”. Compare Exodus 23:12; 2 Samuel 16:14. The application of the word to the Creator, which occurs nowhere else, is remarkable.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 31:17. Rested, and was refreshed. — God, in condescension to human weakness, applies to himself here what belongs to man. If a man religiously rests on the Sabbath, both his body and soul shall be refreshed; he shall acquire new light and life.


 
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