What Does Exodus 20:9 Mean in the King James?

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

Exodus 20:9 · KJV

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

The Hebrew word for labor also carries the meaning of service, and the verse gives that service a boundary.

THE MEANING

Your work has a place in the rhythm of life: six days hold labor, while the next verse gives the seventh to rest. The Hebrew word translated “labour” also means “serve,” joining daily work to service without letting it fill every day.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that work must fill every day to prove your worth loses its footing here: work is given a limit.

THE ROOT

תַּעֲבֹד

taʿavod

GROWS FROM

עבד

ʿ-b-d

to work, serve, or cultivate

“labour” in this verse is taʿavod. The verb ⁨תַּעֲבֹד⁩ (taʿavod, “you shall work”) comes from ⁨עבד⁩ (ʿ-b-d), the root behind ⁨עֶבֶד⁩ (ʿeved, “servant”) and ⁨עֲבוֹדָה⁩ (ʿavodah, “service” or “labor”). The Hebrew holds work and service together, then places both inside a six-day rhythm with a boundary.

ALSO GROWS

ʿeved: A servant or worker

עֶבֶד

The shared root links labor with service: the verse’s work is expressed through the same word-family as serving.

ʿavodah: Work or service

עֲבוֹדָה

This noun makes the shared sense plain: what the verse calls labor belongs to the language of service too.

THE PATTERN

Work has a real place in life, and rest is part of its rhythm.

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.

Genesis 2:2 · KJVThe creation rhythm holds work and rest together, giving the seventh day its own place.

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 23:12 · KJVThe same six-day pattern extends rest to workers, animals, and strangers.

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

Mark 2:27 · KJVRest serves human life; human life is not made to serve an endless demand for work.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJV

“Dress” translates a form of ⁨עבד⁩ (ʿ-b-d), the same root as “labour” here. The root also describes tending the garden, so the word can hold work as cultivation and service within it.

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