What Does Exodus 31:17 Mean?
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for the ages, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and took breath.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
It 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.THE KEY
The seventh day holds both cessation and renewal, making rest part of creation’s completion.
THE MEANING
The seventh day stands as a lasting sign between the LORD and Israel, holding work within a rhythm that includes stopping. God’s work ends in both cessation and refreshment, so completion here contains renewal rather than endless output. For the reader now, rest belongs to the order of life this verse describes, not merely to the aftermath of exhaustion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that stopping means the work is incomplete dissolves here: the work is complete, and cessation belongs to its completion.
THE ROOT
וַיִּנָּפַשׁ
wayyinnaphash
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
to recover or be refreshed
“took breath” in this verse is wayyinnaphash. The verb translated “was refreshed” belongs to the same root family as נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh), meaning “living soul” or “living self.” The verse presents the pause as renewal touching life itself, not simply an empty stretch after work.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: living soul; living self
נֶפֶשׁ
This word for a living being links refreshment with the renewal of life.
veyinnaphesh: and may be refreshed
וְיִנָּפֵשׁ
Exodus 23:12 uses this form for people and animals who receive rest, showing the same renewal within the seventh-day rhythm.
שָׁבַת
shavat
GROWS FROM
שבת
sh-b-t
to cease or stop
The verb translated “rested” names cessation. Paired with the verb for refreshment, it shows the seventh day as both a stopping of work and a renewal.
ALSO GROWS
shabbat: Sabbath; a day of cessation
שַׁבָּת
The name of the day comes from the same root as the cessation in this verse.
shabbaton: a Sabbath rest; complete rest
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related word extends the same root into a named period of rest.
THE PATTERN
Cessation is part of completion, and shared rest renews living beings.
And God blessed the seventh day and set it apart, for on it he had stopped from all his work which God had created and made.Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall stop, that your ox and your donkey may settle, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.THE THREAD
Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall stop, that your ox and your donkey may settle, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.The same verb translated “was refreshed” in Exodus 31:17 appears here for the people and animals who rest. That shared root places renewal within the sign’s reach: the seventh day’s rest touches living beings beyond the one who ceases from work.
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