– From the Hebrew shabat , to rest. Kept as a true weekly feast, a sign of the alliance between God and the people; mandatory rest:
Gen 2:2s : On the seventh day, God finished his work, and he rested from his work.
Ex 16,5.22-30 : Tomorrow is a day of rest, the Sabbath consecrated to the Lord.
Ex 20,8-11 : Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Ex 23,12 : For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh you will rest.
Ex 31,12-17 : Say to the Israelites: You shall observe my Sabbaths, for that is a perpetual sign between me and you.
Ex 34,21 : You will work for six days, but you will rest on the seventh, even when it is time to plow and to reap.
Ex 35,2s : You will work for six days, but the seventh will be a day of complete rest consecrated to the Lord.
Lev 19,3.30 : Each of you respect your mother and father, and keep my Saturdays.
Leviticus 23:3: You will work six days, but on the seventh day, Saturday, the day of rest.
Leviticus 26 :2 : You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
Num 15,32-36 : The Israelites were in the desert and found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
Deut 5 : 12-15: You shall keep the Sabbath day and hallow it, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Ne 9,14 : You made your holy Sabbath known to them, and you commanded them by the mouth of Moses.
Ne 10,32 : Nothing to buy from the land, on the Sabbath day or on a feast day, if they brought it to sell.
Ne 13,15-22 : At the same time, I found men in Judah who trod grapes during the Sabbath.
Is 56,2.4.6 : Who observes the Sabbath without desecrating it, and abstains from all evil deeds.
Is 58,13s : If you refrain from trampling underfoot the Sabbath, from taking care of your affairs on the day that is consecrated to me.
Jr 17,19-27 : Refrain from carrying any burden outside your homes on the Sabbath day.
Ez 20,12-24 : I even instituted my Saturdays for them, as a sign between me and them.
Ez 22,8.26 : You have defiled my sanctuaries and profaned my Saturdays.
Ez 23,38 : This is what they did to me: they dishonored my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths.
Ez 44,24 : In all solemnities they will observe my laws and ordinances and sanctify my Saturdays.
– The seventh day of the week is a holy day of rest for men and animals:
Ex 16,22-30 : Tomorrow is a day of rest, the Sabbath consecrated to the Lord.
– In reference to the seventh day of creation:
Gen 2:2-3 : On the seventh day, God finished his work, and he rested from his work.
– And to the intervention of God in the exodus:
Deut 5 : 12-13: You shall keep the Sabbath day and hallow it, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
– The observance of the Sabbath is faithfulness to the Covenant:
Ex 20,8-9 : Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Ex 23,12-13 : For six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you will rest, so that your ox may rest.
Ex 31,16-17 : The Israelites will keep the Sabbath, celebrating it from age to age with a perpetual covenant.
Leviticus 19 :3: Each of you respect your mother and father and keep my Sabbaths.
Deut 5 : 12-13: You shall keep the Sabbath day and hallow it, as the Lord your God has commanded you.
Ne 10,32 : Nothing to buy from the land, on a Saturday or a feast day.
Ne 13,15-22 : At the same time, I found men in Judah who trod grapes during the Sabbath.
Is 56,1-6 : Happy is the man who behaves like this, […] who observes the Sabbath without desecrating it.
Is 58,13-14 : If you refrain from trampling underfoot the Sabbath, from taking care of your affairs on the day that is consecrated to me.
Jr 17,22.27 : Abstain from carrying any burden outside your houses on the Sabbath day.
Ez 20,12 : I even instituted my Saturdays for them, as a sign between me and them.
– Therefore, it is a day of joy:
Hos 2:13 : I will put an end to all your pleasures, […] your Sabbaths and all your festivals.
– And of prayer:
Num 28,9-10 : On the Sabbath you shall offer two male lambs a year old without blemish, with two-tenths of a flower.
Lk 4:16 : He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his custom, and stood up to read.
Lk 13:10 : Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on a Saturday.
Acts 13:14 , 27, 42 : They went to Pisidian Antioch. There they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.
Acts 15:21 : Because Moses […] has his preachers in every city, since he is read in the synagogues every Saturday.
Acts 16:13 : On Saturday, we went outside the gate to the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer.
Acts 17:2 : Paul went to them, as was his custom, and for three Saturdays he disputed with them.
Acts 18:4: Every Saturday he spoke in the synagogue and tried to convince the Jews and the Greeks.
– On Saturday, all activities and tasks are prohibited:
Is 58:13 : If you refrain from trampling underfoot the Sabbath, from taking care of your affairs on the day that is consecrated to me.
Am 8,5 : When will the new moon pass, for us to sell our wheat, and the Sabbath, for us to open our barns.
– Attend to housework:
Ex 16:23 : Tomorrow is a day of rest, the Sabbath consecrated to the Lord.
Ex 35,1-3 : You will work for six days, but the seventh will be a day of complete rest consecrated to the Lord.
Num 15,32-33 : It so happened that, while the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
– Leaving home:
Ex 16:29 : Consider that if the Lord gave you the Sabbath, he gives you food on the sixth day for two days.
– Work in the fields:
Ex 34,21 : You will work for six days, but you will rest on the seventh, even when it is time to plow and to reap.
– Even defend yourself in combat:
1Mk 2,32-38 : The Syrians chased after them […] then prepared to attack them on the Sabbath day.
– Jesus, however, acts on the Sabbath day:
Jo 5,9.16-17 : At the same moment, that man was healed, took his bed and walked. Now that day was Saturday.
Mt 12:10 : Someone asked Jesus: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?”.
Mk 1:21 : They went to Capernaum. And already on the Sabbath day, Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.
Mk 3,2-5 : Well, they were watching him if he would heal him on the Saturday day, so that they could accuse him.
Lk 13:10 : Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on a Saturday.
Lk 14,3-5 : Jesus addressed the doctors of the Law and the Pharisees: “Is it lawful or not to heal on the Sabbath day?”.
Jn 5,9-18 : And the Jews said to the healed man: “It is Saturday, it is not lawful for you to carry your bed”.
Jn 7,22-23 : Moses gave you circumcision […] and even on the Sabbath you circumcise a man!
Jn 9,14-16 : Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
– And he is also master of Saturday:
Mt 12:8 : For the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.
Mk 2,27-28 : And he said to them: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”.
Lk 6 :5: And he added: “The Son of Man is also lord of the Sabbath”.
– Misinterpretations of the Sabbath rest:
Mt 12,1-14 : Jesus was crossing the fields of wheat on a Saturday day.
Mk 2,23–3,6 : The Pharisees observed him: “Look! Why do they do on the Sabbath what is not lawful?”
Lc 6,1-11 : On a Saturday, Jesus was crossing some fields; his disciples were picking ears.
Lk 13,10-17 : Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on a Saturday.
Lk 14,1-6 : Jesus went to the house of a famous Pharisee one Saturday for a meal.
Jn 5,8-18 : And the Jews said to the healed man: “It is Saturday, it is not lawful for you to carry your bed”.
Jn 7,22ff : If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, and that without violating the Law of Moses.
John 9:16 : This man is not sent by God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
– In the NT, Saturday was replaced by dies Domini , that is, Sunday.
– See SUNDAY.
