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.
This verse comes from Exodus, one of the earliest books of the Bible, where God is giving Moses a detailed set of laws for the Israelite community after they had escaped slavery in Egypt. Like the Ten Commandments, it establishes a weekly day of rest — but this version is strikingly specific about who gets to participate in that rest. The word "alien" refers to a foreigner living among the Israelite community, a person with little legal standing or power. The verse explicitly names working animals, enslaved people, and immigrants as those who must also be allowed to stop. The Hebrew word translated "refreshed" — naphash — literally means to catch one's breath, or to have one's soul restored.
God, forgive me for treating rest as only my own concern. You built the Sabbath wide enough to include the ox and the stranger at the gate — help me build my life with that same generosity. Show me who around me is running on empty, and give me the courage to make real room for them. Amen.
Most conversations about Sabbath stay close to home — your rest, your spiritual recharge, your slow Saturday morning with coffee. But this verse forces the circle wide open. God mentions the ox. The donkey. The person enslaved in the household. The foreign worker with no legal standing. These are the people and creatures at the bottom of every ancient power structure — the ones with the least say over their own time. And God says: they rest too. The Sabbath, from the very beginning, was never only a personal spiritual practice. It was a weekly act of justice built directly into the calendar. That is worth sitting with. If you carry any authority over other people's time — as an employer, a manager, a parent, or even just someone whose habits shape a shared household — this verse asks a pointed question: does your rest come at someone else's expense? Real Sabbath is not carving out your own peace while someone else silently carries the load. It is creating the conditions for the people around you to breathe too. That is a harder ask than a quiet Sunday morning. But it is the one God actually made.
Why do you think God specifically named animals, enslaved people, and foreigners in this rest command — what does their inclusion reveal about his character and priorities?
Have you ever enjoyed a form of rest that, looking back, came at a quiet cost to someone else? What do you notice about that?
Does the idea of Sabbath as a justice issue — not only a personal spiritual practice — change how you have thought about it before? Why or why not?
Who in your life might need you to actively protect their time and margin, not just your own?
What is one structural habit you could change so that your rest does not quietly become someone else's burden?
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
Exodus 34:21
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.
Leviticus 23:3
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
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:
Exodus 20:10
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:8
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exodus 20:9
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Genesis 2:3
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mark 2:27
"Six days [each week] you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall stop [working] so that your ox and your donkey may settle down and rest, and the son of your female servant, as well as your stranger, may be refreshed.
AMP
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.
ESV
'Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease [from labor] so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.
NASB
“Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.
NIV
Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.
NKJV
“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed.
NLT
"Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed rest.
MSG