Keeping The Sabbath Holy
As a personal experiment to see whether I could, and to what exhaustive degree I could, I decided to research all of the restrictions I could find for honoring the Sabbath, from the perspective of strictly “old testament” scriptures. That is, no information is sourced from Christian commentary, the Talmud, or otherwise interpretive/traditional means. A lot of the information was researched via ChatGPT (specifying the above limitations of sources) and verified independently.
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Genesis | 2:02 | By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. |
| Genesis | 2:03 | Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus | 20:08 | Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. |
| Exodus | 20:09 | For six days you shall labor and do all your work, |
| Exodus | 20:10 | but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. |
| Exodus | 20:11 | For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus | 31:12 | Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, |
| Exodus | 31:13 | “Now as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You must keep My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. |
| Exodus | 31:14 | Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. |
| Exodus | 31:15 | For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. |
| Exodus | 31:16 | So the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a permanent covenant.’ |
| Exodus | 31:17 | 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.” |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Leviticus | 23:01 | The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, |
| Leviticus | 23:02 | “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: |
| Leviticus | 23:03 | ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Deuteronomy | 5:12 | ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. |
| Deuteronomy | 5:13 | ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work, |
| Deuteronomy | 5:14 | but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. |
| Deuteronomy | 5:15 | ‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus | 35:2 | “For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. |
| Exodus | 35:3 | “You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day.” |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Exodus | 16:13 | So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. |
| Exodus | 16:14 | When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. |
| Exodus | 16:15 | When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. |
| Exodus | 16:16 | “This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’” |
| Exodus | 16:17 | The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. |
| Exodus | 16:18 | When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat. |
| Exodus | 16:19 | Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.” |
| Exodus | 16:20 | But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. |
| Exodus | 16:21 | They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt. |
| Exodus | 16:22 | Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, |
| Exodus | 16:23 | then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” |
| Exodus | 16:24 | So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. |
| Exodus | 16:25 | Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. |
| Exodus | 16:26 | “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none.” |
| Exodus | 16:27 | It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. |
| Exodus | 16:28 | Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? |
| Exodus | 16:29 | “See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” |
| Exodus | 16:30 | So the people rested on the seventh day. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Nehemiah | 10:31 | As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day; and we will forgo the crops of the seventh year and every debt. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Nehemiah | 13:15 | In those days I saw in Judah people who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs, and every kind of load, and they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. |
| Nehemiah | 13:16 | Also people of Tyre were living [l]there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. |
| Nehemiah | 13:17 | Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day? |
| Nehemiah | 13:18 | Did your fathers not do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” |
| Nehemiah | 13:19 | And it came about that just as it became dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered that the doors be shut, and that they were not to open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day. |
| Nehemiah | 13:20 | Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem. |
| Nehemiah | 13:21 | Then I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. |
| Nehemiah | 13:22 | And I ordered the Levites that they were to purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the Sabbath day. For this also remember me, my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your mercy. |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah | 17:19 | This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem; |
| Jeremiah | 17:20 | and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. |
| Jeremiah | 17:21 | This is what the LORD says: “Take care for yourselves, and do not carry any [i]load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. |
| Jeremiah | 17:22 | You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers. |
| Jeremiah | 17:23 | Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline. |
| Jeremiah | 17:24 | “But it will come about, if you give your attention to Me,” declares the LORD, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, |
| Jeremiah | 17:25 | then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. |
| Jeremiah | 17:26 | They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the areas surrounding Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD. |
| Jeremiah | 17:27 | But if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not go out.”’” |
| Book | Ch/Vr | NASB |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah | 58:13 | “If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot / From doing as you wish on My holy day, / And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, / And honor it, desisting from your own ways, / From seeking your own pleasure / And speaking your own word, |
| Isaiah | 58:14 | Then you will take delight in the LORD, / And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; / And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, / For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” |
