Genesis 2:3

2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy ¹  because on it he ceased all the work that he ²  had been doing in creation. ³ 

Exodus 20:8

20:8 “Remember ⁴  the Sabbath ⁵  day to set it apart as holy. ⁶ 

Isaiah 56:2-6

56:2 The people who do this will be blessed, ⁷ 

the people who commit themselves to obedience, ⁸ 

who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. ⁹ 

56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of ¹⁰  the Lord should say,

‘The Lord will certainly ¹¹  exclude me from his people.’

The eunuch should not say,

‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

56:4 For this is what the Lord says:

“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths

and choose what pleases me

and are faithful to ¹²  my covenant,

56:5 I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument ¹³ 

that will be better than sons and daughters.

I will set up a permanent monument ¹⁴  for them that will remain.

56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of ¹⁵  the Lord and serve him,

who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –

all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

and who are faithful to ¹⁶  my covenant –

[2:3]  ¹ tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”

[20:8]  ⁴ tn The text uses the infinitive absolute זָכוֹר (zakhor) for the commandment for the Sabbath day, which is the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant. The infinitive absolute functions in place of the emphatic imperative here (see GKC 346 §113.bb); the absolute stresses the basic verbal idea of the root – remembering. The verb includes the mental activity of recalling and pondering as well as the consequent actions for such remembering.

[20:8]  ⁵ tn The word “Sabbath” is clearly connected to the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease, desist, rest”). There are all kinds of theories as to the origin of the day, most notably in the Babylonian world, but the differences are striking in so far as the pagan world had these days filled with magic. Nevertheless, the pagan world does bear witness to a tradition of a regular day set aside for special sacrifices. See, for example, H. W. Wolff, “The Day of Rest in the Old Testament,” LTQ 7 (1972): 65-76; H. Routtenberg, “The Laws of Sabbath: Biblical Sources,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 41-43, 99-101, 153-55, 204-6; G. Robinson, “The Idea of Rest in the OT and the Search for the Basic Character of Sabbath,” ZAW 92 (1980): 32-42; and M. Tsevat, “The Basic Meaning of the Biblical Sabbath,” ZAW 84 (1972): 447-59.

[20:8]  ⁶ tn The Piel infinitive construct provides the purpose of remembering the Sabbath day – to set it apart, to make it distinct from the other days. Verses 9 and 10 explain in part how this was to be done. To set this day apart as holy taught Israel the difference between the holy and the profane, that there was something higher than daily life. If an Israelite bent down to the ground laboring all week, the Sabbath called his attention to the heavens, to pattern life after the Creator (B. Jacob, Exodus, 569-70).

[56:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “blessed is the man who does this.”

[56:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the son of mankind who takes hold of it.”

[56:2]  ⁹ tn Heb and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

[56:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who attaches himself to.”

[56:3]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[56:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “and take hold of” (so KJV); NASB “hold fast.”

[56:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a hand and a name.” For other examples where יָד (yad) refers to a monument, see HALOT 388 s.v.

[56:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “name” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[56:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “who attach themselves to.”

[56:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and take hold of”; NAB “hold to”; NIV, NRSV “hold fast.”