shabat · Sabbath

What it means

shabat (שַׁבָּת) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Sabbath”.

The seventh day, when work stops because it is set apart for God. The word comes from the verb "cease". It can also mean a week, or a sabbatical year (the land's rest).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The seventh day, set apart for YHWH, for rest.
2. The year of rest for the land.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Sabbath: the seventh day, on which work ceases because it is set apart for YHWH; also the land's year of rest. It comes from the verb שָׁבַת, “to cease, to rest” (H7673). From the same root is שַׁבָּתוֹן, “solemn rest”. In the New Testament the same word passes into Greek as σάββατον (G4521), with its own note.

• “Remember the day of the Sabbath” Exodus 20:8Exodus 20:10
• The Sabbath in the wilderness, with the manna Exodus 16:29Numbers 15:32
• The Sabbath as a sign between YHWH and Israel Exodus 31:13Isaiah 58:13
• The Sabbath of the land in the seventh year Leviticus 25:4
• Keeping or profaning the Sabbath after the exile Nehemiah 13:15

Historical and cultural background

The text gives the laws: on the seventh day no work is done, not by the slave, the livestock or the resident alien either (Exodus 20:10); in the wilderness, on the sixth day, YHWH gave “bread for two days” (Exodus 16:29); and in the seventh year the land rested: “your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune” (Leviticus 25:4).

How we translate it

“Sabbath” 80 times and “Sabbaths” 31. This edition's glossary sets “Sabbath” for שַׁבָּת and for its Greek equivalent σάββατον, and its sense is explained on touching it. יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת = “the day of the Sabbath” (Exodus 20:8) and שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן = “a Sabbath of solemn rest” (Leviticus 23:32).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Sabbath ×80
• Sabbaths ×31

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×15
• Leviticus×25
• Numbers×4
• Deuteronomy×3
• 2 Kings×6
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Nehemiah×14
• Psalms×1
• Isaiah×8
• Jeremiah×7
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×15
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1

• Exodus 16:23

  He said to them, “This is what YHWH has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to YHWH. What you will bake, bake; and what you will boil, boil; and all that is left over put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’ ”

• Exodus 16:25

  Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to YHWH; today you will not find it in the field.

• Exodus 16:26

  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none on it.”

• Exodus 16:29

  See that YHWH has given you the Sabbath; that is why he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, each one, where he is; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

• Exodus 20:8

  Remember the day of the Sabbath, to keep it holy.

• Exodus 20:10

  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or your resident alien who is within your gates.

• Exodus 20:11

  For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; that is why YHWH blessed the day of the Sabbath and made it holy.

• Exodus 31:13

  “And you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘Surely you shall keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you know that I am YHWH who sanctifies you.

• Exodus 31:14

  You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

• Exodus 31:15

  For six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to YHWH. Whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 31:16

  And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as an eternal covenant.

• Exodus 35:2

  Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there shall be for you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to YHWH; whoever does work on it shall be put to death.

• Exodus 35:3

  You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”

• Leviticus 16:31

  It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever.

• Leviticus 19:3

  Each of you shall fear his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am YHWH your Elohim.

• Leviticus 19:30

  You shall keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am YHWH.

• Leviticus 23:3

  Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work at all; it is a Sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings.

• Leviticus 23:11

  And he shall wave the sheaf before YHWH for your acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

• Leviticus 23:15

  And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven full Sabbaths they shall be.

• Leviticus 23:16

  Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days, and you shall present a new grain offering to YHWH.

• Leviticus 23:32

  It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall cease in your Sabbath.”

• Leviticus 23:38

  besides the Sabbaths of YHWH, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to YHWH.

• Leviticus 24:8

  Every Sabbath day he shall arrange it before YHWH continually, from the sons of Israel, as an eternal covenant.

• Leviticus 25:2

  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving you, the land shall cease, a Sabbath to YHWH.

• Leviticus 25:4

  but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to YHWH; your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune.

• Leviticus 25:6

  And the Sabbath of the land shall be for you for food: for you and for your male slave and for your female slave and for your hired worker and for your temporary resident, those who reside with you,

• Leviticus 25:8

  And you shall count for yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and the days of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty- nine years.

• Leviticus 26:2

  You shall keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am YHWH.

• Leviticus 26:34

  Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will cease and enjoy its Sabbaths.

• Leviticus 26:35

  All the days it lies desolate it will cease, what it did not cease on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

• Leviticus 26:43

  But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the payment for their iniquity, because, yes, because they rejected my rules and their soul loathed my statutes.

• Numbers 15:32

  While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the day of the Sabbath.

• Numbers 28:9

  On the day of the Sabbath: two lambs a year old, without defect, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its libation.

• Numbers 28:10

  It is the burnt offering of each Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering and its libation.

• Deuteronomy 5:12

  Keep the day of the Sabbath to make it holy, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you.

• Deuteronomy 5:14

  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male slave, or your female slave, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or your resident alien who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest like you.

• Deuteronomy 5:15

  Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that YHWH your Elohim brought you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore YHWH your Elohim has commanded you to celebrate the day of the Sabbath.

• 2 Kings 4:23

  He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “Peace.”

• 2 Kings 11:5

  He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you are to do: a third of you, those who come in on the Sabbath, will be keeping watch over the house of the king;

• 2 Kings 11:7

  And the two divisions of you, all who go out on the Sabbath, will keep watch over the house of YHWH for the king.

And 71 more times.