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Exodus23:10–13

Sabbath Laws

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Exodus 23:10–13 — Sabbath Laws. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

10

For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·šêš šā·nîm tiz·ra‘ ’eṯ- ’ar·ṣe·ḵā wə·’ā·sap̄·tā ’eṯ- tə·ḇū·’ā·ṯāh

Word by word8 · parsed
וְשֵׁ֥שׁwə·šêšFor sixH8337
√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Conjunctive wawNumberfeminine singular
wə·šêš (H8337) — 'and six.' The conjunction links this clause to the covenant code preceding; 'six' is the number that always implies the seventh just over its shoulder.
שָׁנִ֖יםšā·nîmyearsH8141
√ shâneh — a year (as a revolution of time)Nounfeminine plural
תִּזְרַ֣עtiz·ra‘you are to sowH2232
√ zâraʻ — to sowVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
tizra‘ — to sow. The cycle named here, sow then gather, is the entire engine of agrarian survival; the law's force is that it deliberately switches that engine off one year in seven.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
אַרְצֶ֑ךָ’ar·ṣe·ḵāyour landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
וְאָסַפְתָּ֖wə·’ā·sap̄·tāand gatherH622
√ ʼâçaph — to gather for any purposeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular
wə·’āsap̄·tā — and you shall gather in. A Qal conjunctive perfect carrying the imperfect's force: sowing and ingathering are bound as the two ends of the same six-year labor.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃tə·ḇū·’ā·ṯāhits produceH8393
√ tᵉbûwʼâh — income, iNounfeminine singular constructthird person feminine singular
tə·ḇū’ā·ṯāh — its income. This noun frames the harvest economically, as profit; the next verse will hand that profit, uncollected, to the poor and the beasts.
11

but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·haš·šə·ḇî·‘iṯ tiš·mə·ṭen·nāh ū·nə·ṭaš·tāh ’eḇ·yō·nê ‘am·me·ḵā wə·’ā·ḵə·lū haś·śā·ḏeh ḥay·yaṯ tō·ḵal wə·yiṯ·rām ta·‘ă·śeh kên- lə·ḵar·mə·ḵā lə·zê·ṯe·ḵā

Word by word14 · parsed
וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞תwə·haš·šə·ḇî·‘iṯbut in the seventh [year]H7637
√ shᵉbîyʻîy — seventhConjunctive waw, ArticleNumberordinal feminine singular
תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּהtiš·mə·ṭen·nāhyou must let it restH8058
√ shâmaṭ — to fling downVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singularthird person feminine singular
tiš·mə·ṭen·nāh — you shall release it. The hinge verb of the Sabbatical year, shâmaṭ (H8058), occurs in only eight verses; its root sense is to fling or let drop (it is the verb for Jezebel hurled down in 2 Kings 9:33). The same rare word names Deuteronomy's shᵉmiṭṭâh, the 'year of release' that drops debts (Deut 15:1–3). The lexical kinship is real; whether the two laws share a single theology is what scholars debate (see threads).
וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּū·nə·ṭaš·tāhand lie fallowH5203
√ nâṭash — properly, to pound, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singularthird person feminine singular
אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י’eḇ·yō·nêso that the poorH34
√ ʼebyôwn — destituteNounmasculine plural construct
’eḇ·yō·nê — the destitute of. The whole rationale of the year is named here: not soil science but the needy eating. Barnes notes the year 'spoken of exclusively in their relation to the poor.'
עַמֶּ֔ךָ‘am·me·ḵāamong your peopleH5971
√ ʻam — a people (as a congregated unit)Nounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
וְאָֽכְלוּ֙wə·’ā·ḵə·lūmay eatH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural
wə·’ā·ḵə·lū (H398, ’âkal) — and they shall eat. The owner who 'gathered in' (v.10) now does not gather; the destitute eat in his place.
הַשָּׂדֶ֑הhaś·śā·ḏehfrom the fieldH7704
√ sâdeh — a field (as flat)ArticleNounmasculine singular
חַיַּ֣תḥay·yaṯand the wild animalsH2416
√ chay — aliveNounfeminine singular construct
תֹּאכַ֖לtō·ḵalmay consumeH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular
וְיִתְרָ֕םwə·yiṯ·rāmwhat they leaveH3499
√ yether — properly, an overhanging, iConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine plural
wə·yiṯ·rām (H3499, yether) — and their remainder/overhang. What the poor leave over is not waste but the portion deliberately reserved for the beasts; nothing is hoarded, nothing is owned outright.
תַּעֲשֶׂ֥הta·‘ă·śehDoH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
כֵּֽן־kên-the sameH3651
√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb
לְכַרְמְךָ֖lə·ḵar·mə·ḵāwith your vineyardH3754
√ kerem — a garden or vineyardPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃lə·zê·ṯe·ḵāand olive groveH2132
√ zayith — an olive (as yielding illuminating oil), the tree, the branch or the berryPreposition-lNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
12

For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šê·šeṯ yā·mîm ta·‘ă·śeh ma·‘ă·śe·ḵā haš·šə·ḇî·‘î ū·ḇay·yō·wm tiš·bōṯ lə·ma·‘an šō·wr·ḵā wa·ḥă·mō·re·ḵā yā·nū·aḥ ben- ’ă·mā·ṯə·ḵā wə·yin·nā·p̄êš wə·hag·gêr

Word by word15 · parsed
שֵׁ֤שֶׁתšê·šeṯFor sixH8337
√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numbermasculine singular construct
יָמִים֙yā·mîmdaysH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural
תַּעֲשֶׂ֣הta·‘ă·śehyou are to doH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָma·‘ă·śe·ḵāyour workH4639
√ maʻăseh — an action (good or bad)Nounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖יhaš·šə·ḇî·‘îbut on the seventhH7637
√ shᵉbîyʻîy — seventhArticleNumberordinal masculine singular
וּבַיּ֥וֹםū·ḇay·yō·wmdayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
תִּשְׁבֹּ֑תtiš·bōṯyou must ceaseH7673
√ shâbath — to repose, iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular
tiš·bōṯ — you shall sabbath. Benson and Poole note the weekly law is repeated here 'lest any should think the weekly rest might cease when the whole year was consecrated to rest.'
לְמַ֣עַןlə·ma·‘anso thatH4616
√ maʻan — properly, heed, iConjunction
שֽׁוֹרְךָ֙šō·wr·ḵāyour oxH7794
√ shôwr — a bullock (as a traveller)Nounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
šō·wr·ḵā (H7794) — your ox. The mercy reaches the working animal first; the Sabbath's humanitarian motive (Cambridge) extends rest down to the beast that cannot ask for it.
וַחֲמֹרֶ֔ךָwa·ḥă·mō·re·ḵāand your donkeyH2543
√ chămôwr — a male ass (from its dun red)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
יָנ֗וּחַyā·nū·aḥmay restH5117
√ nûwach — to rest, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
בֶּן־ben-and the sonH1121
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular construct
אֲמָתְךָ֖’ă·mā·ṯə·ḵāof your maidservantH519
√ ʼâmâh — a maidservant or female slaveNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular
וְיִנָּפֵ֥שׁwə·yin·nā·p̄êšmay be refreshedH5314
√ nâphash — to breatheConjunctive wawVerbNifalConjunctive imperfectthird person masculine singular
wə·yin·nā·p̄êš — and may be re-breathed. The rare Nifal of nephesh (soul/breath). The same verb describes God himself on the seventh day in Exod 31:17, the only other place the divine 'rested and was refreshed' is said — the verbal hinge of this unit's deepest thread.
וְהַגֵּֽר׃wə·hag·gêras well as the foreign residentH1616
√ gêr — properly, a guestConjunctive waw, ArticleNounmasculine singular
wə·hag·gêr (H1616, gêr) — and the sojourner. The resident foreigner, lowest in the social order and 'mostly held to hard service' (Pulpit), is the last named and so the climax of the list: the Sabbath's rest is for the one with no claim on it.
13

Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

tiš·šā·mê·rū ū·ḇə·ḵōl ’ă·šer- ’ā·mar·tî ’ă·lê·ḵem lō ṯaz·kî·rū wə·šêm ’ă·ḥê·rîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm lō yiš·šā·ma‘ ‘al- pî·ḵā

Word by word14 · parsed
תִּשָּׁמֵ֑רוּtiš·šā·mê·rūPay close attentionH8104
√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbNifalImperfectsecond person masculine plural
tiš·šā·mê·rū — be on guard (plural). Gill: 'observe them, be careful to keep them punctually and constantly, even all that are delivered in this and the preceding chapters.' K&D read this as the closing formula of the whole code of mutual rights.
וּבְכֹ֛לū·ḇə·ḵōlto everythingH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine singular
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
אָמַ֥רְתִּי’ā·mar·tîI have saidH559
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)VerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
’ā·mar·tî (H559) — I have said. The first-person divine 'I' frames the entire body of laws as God's own direct speech, lending v.13 its summarizing weight.
אֲלֵיכֶ֖ם’ă·lê·ḵemto youH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPrepositionsecond person masculine plural
לֹ֣אlōYou must notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
תַזְכִּ֔ירוּṯaz·kî·rūinvokeH2142
√ zâkar — properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), iVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine plural
ṯaz·kî·rū — you shall not invoke / make mention. A Hifil of zâkar ('cause to be remembered'): the verb targets not only worship but memory itself. Ellicott notes Jewish commentators and the Vulgate restricted this to swearing by such names, 'but the words used reach far beyond this' — and observes that Moses himself must name Baal, Chemosh, and Moloch when history or warning requires it, so the ban is on honoring mention, not on every utterance.
וְשֵׁ֨םwə·šêmthe namesH8034
√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
אֲחֵרִים֙’ă·ḥê·rîmof otherH312
√ ʼachêr — properly, hinderAdjectivemasculine plural
אֱלֹהִ֤ים’ĕ·lō·hîmgodsH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
לֹ֥אlōthey must notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
יִשָּׁמַ֖עyiš·šā·ma‘be heardH8085
√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine singular
yiš·šā·ma‘ (H8085, shâma‘) — it shall be heard. A Nifal completing the parallel: not invoked by you, not heard from you. JFB: 'in common conversation, for a familiar use of them would tend to lessen horror of idolatry.'
עַל־‘al-onH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
פִּֽיךָ׃pî·ḵāyour lipsH6310
√ peh — the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech)Nounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The year you let the land drop — 23:10–11

Six years you sow (tizra‘) and gather in (’āsap̄·tā) your land's income (tᵉbûwʼâh) — and then, in the seventh, the verbs reverse. The BSB's mild 'let it rest and lie fallow' renders two violent words: shâmaṭ, to fling or throw down (Cambridge notes it is the verb used of Jezebel hurled from the window in 2 Kings 9:33), and nâṭash, to abandon and forsake. Cambridge's own literal reading is blunt: 'thou shalt let it drop and abandon it.' This is not agronomy. As Albert Barnes insists, the year is 'spoken of exclusively in their relation to the poor, as bearing testimony to the equality of the people'; the proprietor 'gave up his rights for the year to the whole community of living creatures, not excepting the beasts.' The harvest passes, ungathered, to the ’ebyôwn — the destitute — and what they leave to the living things of the field. Matthew Poole and Joseph Benson both name the theology behind it in the same phrase: by 'this kind of quit-rent' Israel was 'admonished that God alone was the Lord and Proprietary of the land, and they were only tenants at his will.' Jamieson, Fausset & Brown press it to its sharpest point — the law was a 'practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants, and must conform to His rules on pain of forfeiting the lease of them.' Ellicott rightly marvels that any legislator 'should have been able to induce a people to accept such a law,' which on its face 'seemed to diminish the wealth of the nation by one-seventh.'

ii. The day even the ox is re-breathed — 23:12

The weekly Sabbath is repeated here, and Benson and Poole agree on why: 'lest any should think the weekly rest might cease when the whole year was consecrated to rest.' But the repetition is not flat. The chosen word for work is maʻăseh, 'deed' — not the Decalogue's melâ’khâh — which Cambridge reads as pointing to field-labor in particular, binding the day's rest to the farm. And the mercy descends through the ranks of the powerless: the ox and donkey rest (yā·nū·aḥ, the positive word for settled repose), while the slave-woman's son and the gêr, the sojourner, are re-breathed. That last verb, nâphash (H5314), is rare — only three occurrences in the Hebrew Bible. Barnes renders it 'Literally, may take breath'; Keil & Delitzsch gloss it 'to breathe one's self, to draw breath, i.e., to refresh one's self,' and supply the two cross-references the Verifier independently confirms by shared lexeme: Exodus 31:17 and 2 Samuel 16:14. Ellicott draws the line plainly: 'the merciful intention of the Sabbath day is more fully brought out — it is to be kept in order that the cattle may rest, and the slave and stranger may be refreshed.' The list climbs from the beast that cannot ask to the gêr who has no standing to ask: the Pulpit Commentary reminds us 'the foreign population of Palestine was mostly held to hard service,' so the one named last is the one for whom rest was rarest. The Sabbath, in this telling, is justice for those who cannot demand it.

iii. The names you do not let cross your lips — 23:13

The block closes with a guard-word, shâmar ('be on guard,' to hedge about with thorns), in the plural — addressed to the whole assembly — and a single prohibition: the name of other gods is not to be invoked (zâkar, Hifil: 'caused to be remembered') nor 'heard upon your mouth.' Ellicott records that the Jewish commentators and the Vulgate limited this to swearing oaths, 'but the words used reach far beyond this. Contempt for the gods of the nations was to be shown by ignoring their very names.' Jamieson, Fausset & Brown extend it to ordinary speech: a 'familiar use of them would tend to lessen horror of idolatry.' Matthew Poole sharpens the tone — make no mention 'with honour or delight, or without detestation; as fornication is not to be named among saints.' The Pulpit Commentary sees the silence as a weapon: 'Not even to mention their names, was to show them the greatest contempt possible; and, if followed out universally, would soon have produced an absolute oblivion of them.' Benson turns the guard inward: 'A man may ruin himself through mere carelessness, but he cannot save himself without great care and circumspection.' Keil & Delitzsch read the verse structurally, as 'a very fitting boundary line' — the seam where laws governing Israel's duties to one another give way to the laws governing Israel's relation to Jehovah.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read on its own terms, this little block is a single argument made three times: rest is release, and release is for the powerless. The same logic governs the seventh year and the seventh day. In the year, the landowner flings down (shâmaṭ) his grip on the field so the destitute eat; in the day, the master suspends his claim so the ox, the slave's son, and the foreigner are re-breathed (nâphash). Property and labor are both quietly relativized — you sow your land and gather its income (v.10), and then you are made to prove you do not finally own either. And the unit ends not with worship but with a guard on the tongue: the people who learn to let go of land, profit, and labor are the same people who must let go of every rival name. The thread that ties release to fidelity is, I think, that both are confessions that there is only one Lord of the land and only one Name. This is my reading, offered to be tested, not a ruling.

Rest is release, and release is for the powerless — the seventh year and the seventh day make the same confession: the land is not finally yours, and neither is the Name. (a synthesis reading, not Scripture)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

God himself takes breath: the seventh-day refreshment verbal / quotation — confirmed

The rare verb nâphash ('be re-breathed,' H5314) appears in only three verses in the whole Hebrew Bible. Exodus 23:12 uses it of the slave's son and the sojourner; Exodus 31:17 uses it of God himself, who on the seventh day 'rested, and was refreshed'; the third occurrence, 2 Samuel 16:14, has David and his people 'refresh themselves' after flight. The shared rare lexeme makes the first two a genuinely verbal link — the breath given back to a slave's son and a foreigner is described with the very word the Torah will use for the Creator's own seventh-day repose. The dignity is staggering and deliberate: the least-protected people in Israel are re-souled with God's Sabbath verb. Keil & Delitzsch flag exactly this cross-reference, and a verse-to-verse Verifier run confirms the shared lexeme (not merely the common words 'six'/'seventh').

Exodus 31:17 · 2 Samuel 16:14

basis: rare shared lexeme H5314 nâphash (in only 3 vv total) links Exod 23:12 ↔ Exod 31:17 ↔ 2 Sam 16:14; verse-to-verse Verifier confirms the lexeme overlap, a low-frequency verbal connection, not mere theme

The seventh year and the year of release verbal / quotation — confirmed

The verb for letting the land go in v.11, shâmaṭ ('let drop, release,' H8058, in only 8 verses), is the same verb that names the Deuteronomic 'year of release' (Deut 15:1–3), where it governs the dropping of debts rather than the dropping of land. The lexeme is rare, so the Verifier scores it 'verbal,' and the BSB's own machine label agrees — but Cambridge cautions the link 'is not more than a verbal one,' since the application differs (land vs. debt). I therefore record the shared word but note the connection is contested in its substance.

Deuteronomy 15:2 · Deuteronomy 15:3 · 2 Kings 9:33

basis: shared rare lexeme H8058 shâmaṭ (in only 8 vv); Cambridge notes the connection to Deut 15's 'year of release' is verbal only, the application differing (land vs. debt)

Sabbath rest for ox, slave, and sojourner structural / thematic — confirmed

The Sabbath-day half of this unit restates Exodus 20:10 and is restated again in Deuteronomy 5:14, where the same cast — the ordinal 'seventh,' the ox (shôwr), the maidservant (’âmâh), and the sojourner (gêr) — reappears. These are common Sabbath-law lexemes shared across the legal corpus, so the link is structural rather than a quotation: one institution expressed in parallel statutes, with Deuteronomy adding the exodus-memory motive that Exodus omits.

Exodus 20:10 · Deuteronomy 5:14

basis: shared Sabbath-law lexemes H7637 shᵉbîyʻîy, H519 ʼâmâh, H7794 shôwr, H1616 gêr, H3117 yôwm — common terms, so a structural/legal parallel, not a quotation

The fuller Sabbatical-year law of Leviticus 25 structural / thematic — confirmed

Nearly every commentator (Barnes, Ellicott, Pulpit, JFB, Gill) reads Exod 23:10–11 as the seed whose full statute is Leviticus 25:1–7. The shared lexemes — to sow (zâra‘), gather (’âçaph), produce (tᵉbûwʼâh), vineyard (kerem), and the ordinal 'seventh' — confirm the two passages treat one institution, but they are agricultural commonplaces, so the tier is structural. Leviticus shifts the stated motive from philanthropy ('that the poor may eat') to 'a sabbath to the LORD' for the land itself — a real divergence Cambridge highlights.

Leviticus 25:3 · Leviticus 25:4 · Leviticus 25:20

basis: shared agricultural lexemes H2232 zâra‘, H622 ʼâçaph, H8393 tᵉbûwʼâh, H3754 kerem, H7637 shᵉbîyʻîy — common terms naming one institution; structural, not verbal

Blot out the names of other gods structural / thematic — confirmed

The command of v.13 not to mention (zâkar) the name (shêm) of other gods is echoed in Joshua 23:7 ('make no mention of the name of their gods') and Psalm 16:4 ('nor take up their names upon my lips'). Poole and Cambridge both cite Josh 23:7, Ps 16:4, Hos 2:17, and Zech 13:2 as the cluster. The shared lexemes (shêm, zâkar, ’achêr) are high-frequency, so the link is thematic — a recurring motif of erasing idol-names — rather than a quotation of one text by another.

Joshua 23:7 · Psalm 16:4

basis: shared high-frequency lexemes H8034 shêm, H2142 zâkar, H312 ʼachêr — a recurring 'names of other gods' motif, thematic not verbal

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Sabbath rest that remains widely-held

The day on which even the ox, the slave's son, and the sojourner are 're-breathed' (nâphash) — the same word used of God's own seventh-day refreshment (Exod 31:17) — is read by the New Testament as a shadow whose substance is the rest entered through Christ. Hebrews 4:9 holds out 'a Sabbath rest for the people of God,' and Jesus offers himself as its Lord and giver: 'Come to me… and I will give you rest' (Matt 11:28). Benson and Matthew Henry already read this unit's Sabbaths as 'typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly labours… shall cease for ever.' Because Hebrews is Greek and Exodus Hebrew, no shared original-language lexeme links them; the connection is typological, argued from the pattern of cessation-and-refreshment, not asserted as a verbal quotation.

Hebrews 4:9 · Matthew 11:28

Good news to the poor, release to the captive widely-held

The seventh-year release of the land to the destitute (’ebyôwn) and the Levitical Jubilee it anticipates form the backdrop for Jesus' synagogue sermon, where he reads Isaiah 61 — 'to proclaim good news to the poor… to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor' — and declares it fulfilled in himself (Luke 4:18–21). The Sabbatical and Jubilee economy of release, in which the owner flings down (shâmaṭ) his claim so the needy eat, is taken up and embodied in the One who proclaims the ultimate release. This reading is ancient and widely held; the link is thematic and figural, not a verbal citation.

Luke 4:18 · Luke 4:21

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Honesty notes for this unit: (1) Matthew Poole has no text on Exod 23:10 in the sources ('No text from Poole on this verse'); his voice is therefore drawn from vv.11 and 13, where he does comment. (2) Several commentators (Henry, Keil & Delitzsch) write a single note spanning vv.10–19 or 10–14; voices attributed to a given verse are taken from the block keyed to that verse in the source. (3) The nâphash (H5314) thread is asserted to Exodus 31:17 as well as 2 Samuel 16:14. The unit-level candidate list surfaced Exod 31:17 mainly on the common terms 'six'/'seventh', but a verse-to-verse Verifier run (Exod 23:12 ↔ Exod 31:17) confirms the two verses do share the rare H5314 itself — so the verbal tier is earned, not inferred from theme. (4) The shâmaṭ link between Exod 23:11 and Deuteronomy 15's 'year of release' is scored 'verbal' by the Verifier on lexeme rarity (H8058, in only 8 verses), and the lexeme overlap itself is not disputed. What Cambridge cautions is narrower — that the connection is 'not more than a verbal one' because the application differs (releasing land vs. releasing debt). The badge therefore keeps the honest 'verbal' tier for the shared word while the body and this note flag that the theological significance, not the lexeme, is what scholars contest. (5) The two Christ threads cross from Hebrew to Greek and so carry no shared Strong's number; both are tiered typological/thematic, never verbal, on those grounds. (6) This unit contains no Joshua 1:5 verse and no debated NT quotation of these verses, so no mandatory 'flagged — verify source' thread applies.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)