Exodus 20:9 (WEB)

Passage

You shall labor six days, 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 hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

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

Exodus 20:9 You shall labor six days, and do all your work,

Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;

Exodus 20:11 for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "labor", and "days". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "labor", 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 "shall" and "labor" 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 "shall" and "labor" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.