שַׁבָּת

H7676, šabbāṯ, is the Hebrew noun Sabbath. It names the appointed seventh day and, in several legal and liturgical settings, related Sabbath observances. The word does more than label private relaxation. In Exodus it belongs to God's ordering of Israel's time, first in the manna instructions and then in covenant commands. Work stops because the day is holy to the Lord. The command reaches households, servants, livestock, and resident foreigners, so Sabbath rest limits a household head's power to demand uninterrupted labor. In Deuteronomy, Israel remembers slavery and God's deliverance while allowing servants to rest as their masters do.

Scripture also calls the Sabbath a sign that the Lord sanctifies His people. That sign is not a human achievement or a badge of moral superiority. It receives time from God, confesses dependence on His provision, and places ordinary work under His lordship. Prophets expose the contradiction of keeping a calendar while profaning justice, pursuing selfish commerce, or treating worship as an inconvenience. Isaiah can call the Sabbath a delight and welcome faithful foreigners, while Amos condemns merchants impatient for the sacred day to end so exploitation can resume. The word therefore holds together worship, rest, holiness, economic restraint, and covenant loyalty without making every occurrence carry all five themes equally.

Christian readers should neither erase Israel's Sabbath texts nor use H7676 as a shortcut around New Testament teaching about days, worship, and rest. Jesus' Sabbath actions confront interpretations that burden people and defend mercy and life, yet the Hebrew noun itself does not settle every later question about Christian observance. Pastoral use should begin with what these Old Testament passages actually require: receive God's time as gift, stop treating productivity as lord, protect others from ceaseless demand, remember redemption, honor worship, and refuse a form of religion that leaves exploitation untouched.

H7676 names the Sabbath as holy time received from God, a covenant sign, a restraint on labor, a gift extended to dependent workers and foreigners, a delight to be honored, and an observance emptied when joined to exploitation or rebellion.