Exodus 20:9
ESV
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
NIV
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
NASB
For six days you shall labor and do all your work,
CSB
You are to labor six days and do all your work,
NLT
You have six days each week for your ordinary work,
KJV
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
NKJV
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
What does Exodus 20:9 mean?
This is part of God's explanation of the fourth commandment (Exodus 19:5–6; 20:1–7). The rule instructs Israel to honor the "Sabbath" day (Exodus 16:22–23). The Sabbath is a day of rest at the end of the seven-day week. When God created, He spent six "days" making all things (Genesis 2:1–3). On the seventh, He ceased His work. When He provided Israel with manna (Exodus 16:14–16), God told them to observe a rest day after six days of work (Exodus 16:26–30). Sabbath-keeping is included here as one of the fundamental laws in the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20:11).Sabbath law was given to Israel and not established as a universal requirement. The true "Sabbath" has never changed: from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday (Genesis 1:5; Leviticus 23:3). It has never been commanded as a day of worship, only one of rest (Exodus 35:2). And it was never meant to be treated with paranoid legalism (Matthew 12:3–5; Mark 2:27).
Since the old covenant has been fulfilled (Hebrews 8:8–13), its laws are no longer in force. Other than Sabbath-keeping, however, the Ten Commandments are all repeated in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
