Exodus 20:9 (LSB)

Passage

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

Nearby Context

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Exodus 20:8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates.

Exodus 20:11 For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "days", "shall", and "labor". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "days" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Remember the sabbath day to keep it..." into verse 10's "but the seventh day is a sabbath...", so "days" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "days" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.