Exodus 23:12

12 " 'Six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you will stop so that your ox and your donkey will rest and the son of your slave woman and the alien will be refreshed.

Exodus 23:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:12

Six days thou shalt do thy work
That is, they might do what work they would on the six days of the week:

and on the seventh day thou shall rest;
from all the work and labour done on other days, and give up themselves to religious exercises:

that thine ox and thine ass may rest;
and so every other beast, as horses, camels

and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed;
the former, the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi, interprets, of one uncircumcised, and the latter, of a proselyte of the gate: this law is here repeated, partly to show that it is of the same kind with the former, namely, ceremonial and temporary; and partly, as Jarchi observes, lest it should be said, since all, the year is called the sabbath, there was no need to observe the weekly sabbath.

Exodus 23:12 In-Context

10 " 'And six years you will sow your land and gather its yield.

11 But the seventh you will let it rest and leave it fallow, and the poor of your people will eat, and their remainder the animals of the field will eat. You will do likewise for your vineyard and for your olive trees.

12 " 'Six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you will stop so that your ox and your donkey will rest and the son of your slave woman and the alien will be refreshed.

13 " 'And you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not {profess} the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.

14 " 'Three times in the year you will hold a festival for me