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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.” |
| 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. |
