Exodus 31:16
◄  Exodus 31:16  ►
New International Version (©2011)
The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
The Israelites must observe the Sabbath, celebrating it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

International Standard Version (©2012)
The Israelis are to keep the Sabbath to make the Sabbath observance a perpetual covenant from generation to generation.

NET Bible (©2006)
The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The Israelites must observe this day of worship, celebrating it for generations to come as a permanent reminder of my promise.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

American King James Version
Why the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

American Standard Version
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let the children of Israel keep the sabbath, and celebrate it in their generations. It is an everlasting covenant

Darby Bible Translation
And the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations it is an everlasting covenant.

English Revised Version
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Webster's Bible Translation
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

World English Bible
Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Young's Literal Translation
and the sons of Israel have observed the sabbath; to keep the sabbath to their generations is a covenant age-during,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:12-17 Orders were now given that a tabernacle should be set up for the service of God. But they must not think that the nature of the work, and the haste that was required, would justify them in working at it on sabbath days. The Hebrew word /shabath/ signifies rest, or ceasing from labour. The thing signified by the sabbath is that rest in glory which remains for the people of God; therefore the moral obligation of the sabbath must continue, till time is swallowed up in eternity.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - For a perpetual covenant. The sabbath is itself a covenant - i.e., a part of the covenant between God and Israel (Exodus 24:4) - and it is, also, a sign of covenant - i.e., a perceptible indication that the nation has entered into a special agreement with God, and undertaken the observance of special laws.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath,.... On whom the sabbath of the seventh day was only enjoined, as well as that of the seventh and of the fiftieth years, being all ceremonial and shadowy:

to observe the sabbath throughout their generations; so long as the Mosaic dispensation lasted, and their civil polity and church state continued, even until the Messiah came, when all those Jewish shadows, rites, and ceremonies, fled away and disappeared:

for a perpetual covenant; just in the same sense as circumcision was, Genesis 17:13.

Exodus 31:16 Parallel Commentaries

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The Sign of the Sabbath
…15Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whoever does any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Why the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It 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.

Exodus 31:15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.
Exodus 31:17 It will be 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.'"
Isaiah 58:13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,