What Does Deuteronomy 5:13 Mean in the King James?
Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Work has a boundary: the verse gives it six days, not all of them.
THE MEANING
Your labor has a real place, and the verse names its span: six days for the work you do. Its boundary belongs to the rhythm of life, so work does not occupy every day.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that work has no limit: the verse counts its span as six days.
THE ROOT
תַּעֲבֹד
taʿavod
GROWS FROM
עבד
to serve; to work
The verb translated “labour” comes from עבד, a root that also means “serve.” The word holds work and service together: labor is not only activity, but service given a place within a larger rhythm.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant
עֶבֶד
The shared root links the labor of these six days with service.
ʿavodah: work; service
עֲבוֹדָה
This noun keeps the same two senses together, showing the service within the verse’s labor.
THE PATTERN
Work has an appointed place within a rhythm that also makes room for rest.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.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.And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:THE THREAD
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.The Hebrew translated “to dress” comes from עבד, the same root as “labour” here. The root connects the garden work with service, revealing labor as care for what has been entrusted.
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