Exodus 20 · Verse 9

Exodus 20:9

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exodus 20:9, King James Version

Exodus 20:9 in other translations

BSBSix days you shall labor and do all your work,
WEBYou shall labor six days, and do all your work,
ASVSix days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;
YLTsix days thou dost labour, and hast done all thy work,
DARBYSix days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
BBEOn six days do all your work:
WebsterSix days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:

What does Exodus 20:9 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 Six days shalt thou labor - Therefore he who idles away time on any of the six days, is as guilty before God as he who works on the Sabbath. No work should be done on the Sabbath that can be done on the preceding days, or can be deferred to the succeeding ones. Works of absolute necessity and mercy are alone excepted. He who works by his servants or cattle is equally guilty as if he worked himself. Hiring out horses, etc., for pleasure or business, going on journeys, paying worldly visits, or taking jaunts on the Lord's day, are breaches of this law. The whole of it should be devoted to the rest of the body and the improvement of the mind. God says he has hallowed it - he has made it sacred and set it apart for the above purposes. It is therefore the most proper day for public religious worship.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 20:3-11

The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship of creatures is here forbidden…

Read the full comment on Exodus 20:3-11 →

Exodus 20:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁתShe.shetsixH8337
יָמִ֣ים֙ya.MimdaysH3117
תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ta.'a.Vodyou will laborH5647
וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָve.'a.Si.taand you will doH6213
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒\׃me.lakh.te.Khawork yourH4399

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 20:9

  • Luke 13:14

    And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

  • Exodus 23:12

    Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

  • Exodus 34:21

    Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

  • Leviticus 23:3

    Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

  • Exodus 35:2

    Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
23:12; Lu 13:14

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 20:8

    Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  • Exodus 20:9

    Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

  • Exodus 20:10

    But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Read all of Exodus 20

Exodus 20:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Seis días trabajarás, y harás toda tu obra;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Six jours tu travailleras, et tu feras toute ton œuvre;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Sechs Tage sollst du arbeiten und all dein Werk tun;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Sex diebus operaberis, et facies omnia opera tua.