What Type of Work is Prohibited on the Sabbath Day?

Posted by Navah on Jul 17, 2025

At the head of the Creator’s appointed times in Leviticus 23, where all the appointed times are listed, the Sabbath Day (Hebrew, Shabbat) stands alone as the day which the Creator had already set apart from the beginning of creation, as His own rest and a day of rest for His people (Genesis 2:3). Much later in history, He will codify it as a law and one of the commandments in the Covenant in Exodus 20:8-11. We read the literal translation of the first account concerning the Sabbath Day,

And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day Elohim ended His work, which He had made, and He ceased on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He ceased from all His work which Elohim created to make. (Gen 2:1-3)

“It is not good enough to learn all the dos and don’ts but not the whys.” Navah

A few things need to be noted here. According to the plain meaning of the text, the work the Creator did on that day was the completion of the seven days of creation during which He created the heaven and the earth. This is expressed by the phrases “on the seventh day Elohim ended His work”, “He ceased on the seventh day from all His work”, and “because on it He ceased from all His work which Elohim created to make”. And after He sanctified it, more particularly, set it apart, He ceased all His work which He created to make. Here the narrator describes (notice the choice of word: לַעֲשֹֽׂות la’asot, to make) the cessation of all the work on the seventh day.

The word in question is לַעֲשֹֽׂות la’asot, to make, when all the work of creation was made. On the first Sabbath, He ceased His work and blessed it. Then, the narrator goes on to say, “These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that YHVH Elohim made earth and heaven” (Gen 2:4). It is worth noticing that this is the first place the Name of the Eternal, the Tetragrammaton “YHVH”, appears in the Scripture. This Name hence alludes to the creation of the world by bringing everything into being.

Notice that after the narrator says in verse 1 that the heaven and the earth were completed, and in verse 4 he continues describing their generations, he very explicitly avoid mentioning a word about ceasing the Creation, only that the heavens and the earth were finished. Compare this translation to “which God in creating had made” (JPS), and “which God created and made” (KJV). Regrettably, these translations are inaccurate and unfaithful to the Hebrew. And Mosheh instead of writing, “He ceased from completing all His work,” he wrote, “He ceased from all His work which Elohim created to make”. What is the difference? By “created to make”, Mosheh hinted that with this choice of words the Creator intended to continue being involved in the creation of the universe by constantly be vested within creation, ceaselessly recreating and reanimating His creation. Alternatively, the verse can mean that after the sixth day, the Creator created the seventh day. This hints at the thought that on the seventh day, the Created did some work.

And indeed, the meaning of the Name YHVH, which we choose to translate as “The Eternal”, is the One who exists forever and brings everything into existence from nothing indicating that the action of existence and creation is always in present and continuous; the Tetragrammaton literally means “He continuously exists”. The prefix yud in the Name refers to HVH, which form the word hoveh, whose root means “to exist” and “to bring into being”, as we already explained elsewhere. Some commentaries derive the Name YHVH from haya, hoveh, yih’yeh, signifying past, present, and future simultaneously, thus referring to the transcendence of the Supernal One, who surpasses space and time.

Insight: The word מְלָאכָה mela’chah, work, above is a feminine noun derived from the masculine noun מַלְאָךְ mal’ach, which means “messenger” or “ambassador”, generally translated as “angel”. A messenger or ambassador is one who represents the one who has sent him. We now return to the text.

With that being said, we understand that Shabbat is not a day to do nothing. Shabbat is a day to rest by ceasing from all ordinariness and mundaneness of the weekdays, and to work on the Shabbat things. Thus, we sanctify this day, as we will further explain.

In the Covenant at Sinai, having first commanded us to know His uniqueness and His power, after He destroyed Egypt, and the fact that He alone is the Creator, and how much He hates idolatry, when people put a mask of idols upon His Face (Exodus 20:1-3), and after He revealed His Set-apart Name to Israel and how jealous He was over His Name (verse 7), the Eternal gave the people the symbol that will be between Him and Israel from that moment on: the observance of the Sabbath, as the day which bears the stamp of the Creator’s creative power.

We should note here that at Sinai, when the Ten Commandments were given, the Torah wrote to “remember the Sabbath day”. In the fortieth year, however, when Mosheh led the new generation born in the desert into the Covenant, it was more appropriate for him to underline the importance of the observance but more literally, the guarding of Sabbath from profaning it (see Deuteronomy 5). From the plain meaning of the Torah’s text in Exodus is evident that the reason why we must remember the Sabbath day every day is to ensure that we do not observe the wrong day as a day of rest, i.e., the first day of the week, for indeed, there is no visible difference between the Sabbath and the other days of the week. In Exodus, Torah by saying, “for YHVH made heaven and earth during six days”, the concept of the Sabbath is linked to the creation, as opposed to the renewal of the Covenant in Deuteronomy, where it is linked to Israel’s Exodus from Egypt: “the Eternal Your Elohim brought you out from there (Egypt) by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Eternal Your Elohim commanded you to perform the Sabbath day”.

So, what does Torah teach in both variants of the Covenant?

We learn to read and understand by reading. We learn to do things by practicing them. Hence, there is no way of knowing and understanding the Creator’s Shabbat without doing Shabbat. For He defines the Shabbat as a sign between Him and His people, native and non-native alike, as seen in Exo 31:13, Exo 31:17, Eze 20:12, and Eze 20:20.

But what is the etymology of the word Shabbat? A word that shares a part of the root of the Hebrew word Shabbat is the word sheva, which means “seven”. Thus, a literal connection between the seventh (sheva) day and the appointed day of rest (Shabbat) has been established from the very beginning of the world. But when the Sabbath is moved from the seventh day to the first day of the week, a violation of the Covenant is committed, and this clear connection between the seventh day and the day of rest is removed. To make it even worse, the only sign between the Creator and mankind is also removed, and the Sabbath day is sent into oblivion. Yet, a small people still guard and observe the Sabbath day.

The counting for the Sabbath first began from day one of creation, Day One, then the second day, the third day, etc. When the Creator reached the sixth day and the world was set to begin its course, He also created the seventh day, on which He rested. The Omnipotent One did not rest, as if He needed to rest, but He set day apart from the rest in order to set an example for mankind to do the same. Since then, every seventh day has been set apart as a special, distinguished day of creation. Hence, this comes to teach us that the Sabbath has been set apart not from the sighting of the new moon, stars, and planets, or the commencement of a season, etc., but from the simple counting of every seventh day for the last six millennia.

Shabbat is not the name of a day, namely the seventh day of the week, but a day of rest, or literally, a day of cessation of any type of work. Hence, not only the seventh day of the week (the weekly Sabbath), but the Day of Atonement (the annual Sabbath), is called Shabbat and also “Shabbat Shabbaton“. (See Leviticus 23, where all sacred days are listed by the Creator). Gatherings are not prescribed for the Sabbath in the list of festive sacrifices in Numbers 28 and 29. Yet, the Sabbath is called mikra, Hebrew for a convocation or rehearsal, which comes to teach us that the people of YHVH have a meeting with Him on that particular day of the week. 

While the Rabbinic Judaism is filled with 39 prohibitions on the keeping of the Sabbath (see Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, Sabbath 7), no specific rules in the Written Torah, that is the five books of Mosheh, are laid down for the observance of the Sabbath Day. This forced the Rabbis to find a definition of the term “work”, which led to the 39 prohibitions. It is not germane and central to the issue of how the Rabbis have come up with these 39 prohibitions, so we will therefore leave them out of our study, as we have no intention to use any commentary to dwell on such matters, having been told what the Torah clearly has stated. What is important for us therefore is what the Written Torah says, for there is much to ponder over in it.
And indeed, what constitutes work in the Torah, for Torah does not define what work is, and therefore, what we should rest for? Since Torah is not explicit on this issue, it is incumbent upon us to seek the answer to this question. But first, which are the laws of Sabbath?

“Serving the Eternal is not religion but way of life.” Navah

In the words of Torah, we will first present the laws of the Sabbath in brief, after which we will explain the prohibitions at length. The reason why we find this important to emphasize will be made clear further on. 

THE LAWS OF SHABBAT

1. 1. Remember the Sabbath: Exo 20:8, Deu 5:15.
   2. Guard the Sabbath: Exo 31:14, Deu 5:12.
   3. Set apart the Sabbath: Exo 20:8, Exo 35:2, Deu 5:12.
   4. Cease any labor on the Sabbath: Exo 20:9-10, Exo 31:15 Exo 34:21, Deu 5:14.
   5. Rest on the Sabbath: Exo 16:23, Exo 23:12, Exo 31:15, Exo 35:2; Lev 23:3.
   6. Do not cause another to labor for you: Exo 20:10, Exo 23:12; Deu 5:14.
   7. Do not cook: Exo 16:4-5, Exo 16:23, Exo 16:29, Exo 35:3.
   8. Do not sell or buy: Exo 16:25-30, Amo 8:4-5, Neh 10:31, Neh 13:15-21.
   9. Do not go out of the city: Exo 16:29-30, Neh 13:15-22, Act 1:12.
   10. Do not carry a burden out of your dwelling place: Jer 17:21-27, Neh 13:15-22.

There are activities for the six weekdays on which labor is permitted and even required in order to provide for our livelihood, as stated, “Six days you labor and shall do all your work”. But on the seventh day of the week: No work! There are six activities referring to the six weekdays in which labor is forbidden. These six activities constitute the six prohibitions concerning the seventh day of the week, when a complete rest is observed until the next first day of the week. Below are the Scriptural references with explanations where needed for each prohibition.

THE PROHIBITIONS ON SHABBAT

1. 1. Cease any labor on Shabbat!   

Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. Six days you labor and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Eternal your Elohim. You do not do any work … (Exo 20:8-11)

These words are understood without difficulty as meaning, that six days the Creator has allotted for us to do mundane work to provide for our living, but on the Sabbath day all this has to stop completely. See also Exo 31:15, Exo 34:21, and Deu 5:13-14. The reader is here reminded that the Covenant continues to prohibit having someone to work for you, as we read further.

1. 2. Do not cause anyone to labor for you!

You do not do any work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. … (Exo 20:8-11)

This is self-evident why the Creator of the Sabbath day prohibits others to work for us, namely, if we will have rest on that day, why would we have others work for us? Here, the Creator is concerned even about a donkey (see also Exo 23:12, Deu 5:14).

1. 3. Do not cook on Shabbat!

The Eternal said to Mosheh, “See, I am raining bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, in order to try them, whether they walk in My Torah or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily (Exo 16:4-5).

Through giving the manna, the heavenly bread, He tested them whether they would hold the commandments; whether they would not leave any of it over, and whether they would not go out on the Sabbath to gather more manna. If they were obedient, on the sixth day (Friday) the people should gather double.

This is what YHVH has said concerning preparing food on the Sabbath day,

Tomorrow is a rest, a Sabbath set-apart to the Eternal. That which you bake, bake; and that which you cook, cook. And lay up for yourselves all that is left over, to keep it until morning. (Exo 16:23)

The preparation for the Sabbath day begins from the first day of the week. But on the sixth day, food must be prepared that will be sufficient for the whole household so that no one should lack food from the sunset of the sixth day (Friday evening) for two days. This prohibition also includes the prohibition to kindle fire with the purpose of labor or cooking (see Exo 35:3). This prohibition is expanded next.

1. 4. Do not sell or buy; Do not do business on the Sabbath! For Mosheh said,

Eat it (manna) today, for today is a Sabbath to the Eternal, today you do not find it in the field. Gather it six days, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there is none. … See, because the Eternal has given you the Sabbath, therefore He is giving you bread for two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place, do not let anyone go out of his place on the seventh day. (Exo 16:25-30)

And it came to be that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather the heavenly bread, but they found none. And they rested on the Sabbath.

This episode teaches that food for the Sabbath day should be gathered (bought) for six days; this is a preparation for the Sabbath, which is to ensure that there will be sufficient food for two days. But on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there is none to be bought. Let each one stay in his place (the meaning of “his place” will be explained later), and do not let anyone go out of his place on the seventh day to buy food.

In the Prophets, this prohibition is enforced for the corrupt people were seeking any opportunity to violate the Sabbath day to do their business, and justify their behavior, saying, “When will the New Moon pass and we will sell grain and engage in business dealings?” It was customary not to engage in commerce on the New Moon (the first day of the month), and a Torah law not to open the storehouses of grain until the Sabbath passes. We read from Amos thusly,

Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, to do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When does the new month pass so that we sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we trade our wheat, to make the ephah small and the shekel large, and to falsify the scales by deceit, to buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the chaff of the wheat?” (Amo 8:4-6)

They were keen to exploit the poor through corrupt business practices to reduce the measure of the produce they sold, and to increase the weight of the shekel, by which they were paid, and to alter the deceitful scales. They also anticipate the time when the grain would be expensive and will be sold to the poor with interest. And when the Sabbatical Year came, and the grain became expensive, they opened the storehouses of grain to sell it with profit. But YHVH sworn that He should never forget any of their works (Amo 8:7). See also Neh 10:31, Neh 13:15-21.

1. 5. Do not go out of your place!

See, because the Eternal has given you the Sabbath, therefore He is giving you bread for two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place, do not let anyone go out of his place on the seventh day. (Exo 16:29)

No man should leave his place on the seventh day. Here, the term “place” refers to the city’s Sabbath limits. The Torah did not explicitly state the measure of this limit. The principle that led the Rabbis to set city limits is found in Num 35:5, which defines what the term “place” means including the open land of the cities, namely, a square of 2,000 by 2,000 cubits, as we read in Numbers,

And the open land of the cities which you give the Levites are from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. And the city is in the middle. This is to them the open land for the cities. (Num 35:4-5)

From the above, it follows that a person may walk throughout the expanse of the city in which he lives, “even if it is as large as Nineveh” (the city of Nineveh was a large city; one needed three days to cross it from one end to the other). See also Mishneh Torah, Sabbath 27 and Neh 13:15-22. In the first century Judeah, this term is further established as “a Sabbath day’s journey”, as we read in Act 1:12,

Then they went back to Yerushalayim from the Mount of Olives, which is near Yerushalayim, a Sabbath day’s journey. (Act 1:12)

1. 6. Do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day!

The Torah records one case of Sabbath violation followed by a death penalty. This incident requires more explanation.

While Israel was in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day, despite the command not to leave the camp on that day. And those who found him, when he returned to the camp, brought him to Mosheh and to Aharon. And Mosheh and to Aharon put him in under guard, because when YHVH Elohim had given them the commandment to observe the Sabbath, it had not been specified what was to be done to someone who desecrated it, like this man. They knew that he was to be punished, but they did not know by what punishment he deserved, because the Torah had not yet been given. And YHVH said to Mosheh, “The man shall certainly be put to death, all the congregation stoning him with stones outside the camp” (Num 15:32-35).

What did the wood gatherer violate? This is the only narrative in the Torah with a description of a Shabbat violation. Considering the serious consequences of violating Shabbat, it seems that this incident is a good example of a violation. In the present author’s opinion, the violation is not only limited to wood gathering on Shabbat, but also to the willful violation of the prohibition in the Torah not to leave the camp but stay in it and have a rest. The man should have gathered wood for his household on the sixth day and rest on the seventh day, but he violated it willfully anyway.

What does this incident teach? This type of judgement, namely capital punishment, belongs to the judgement of YHVH; we cannot carry out such judgements. As the Rabbis have ruled out to carry out such a judgement without being able to fulfill all of the commandments governing justice, involving the judges, priests, etc. would be a greater violation of Torah than not to be judged at all.

This incident in the wilderness served as an example in the First Temple period, namely, not to carry burden in and out of Yerushalayim, nor take a burden out of the houses for the purpose of doing business on the Sabbath day, as we read in the Prophets,

Thus said YHVH, “Guard yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Yerushalayim, nor take a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work. And you shall set apart the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. (Jer 17:21-22)

When reading the Book of Jeremiah, we notice that the language is very strict concerning the Sabbath. The prophet threatens Jerusalem with destruction for violating the Sabbath. The prophet explicitly stated that if Israel returns to Sabbath observance, as they were commanded to, then even though the decree that Jerusalem be destroyed was issued, they would not be exiled from their place, and the thrones of the Davidic dynasty would remain standing in Jerusalem (Jer 17:25). But if they disobey the Eternal to set the most set-apart day, “then I shall kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall consume the palaces of Yerushalayim, and not be quenched”; see Jer 17:27. 

Still more striking is the following example of corruption of the Sabbath which we find in Nehemia 13, and which summarizes all we have said above. He wrote this to serve as a witness,

In those days, I saw in Yehudah those treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Yerushalayim on the Sabbath day. So, I warned them on the day they sold food. And men of Tsor dwelt there, bringing in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Yehudah, and in Yerushalayim. Then I contended with the nobles of Yehudah, and said to them, “What evil matter is this that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same so that our Elohim brought all this evil on us and on this city? Yet, you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath”. (Neh 13:15-21)

And when darkness came upon Jerusalem before the Sabbath, he commanded the doors to be shut, so that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath. And he stationed servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in the city on the Sabbath day. And the merchants spent the night outside Jerusalem. From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath.

For more insight on the Sabbath and the rest of the set-apart days of the Creator, please, it would be advantageous for the reader to study the entire subject of The Appointed Times of YHVH.

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May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days! 

Navah 

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