Exodus 20:8

Remember] ‘Think of it always, so as never to forget it, as a day to be distinguished from ordinary days, and held sacred: remember, as Exo_13:3’ (Di.). Deu_5:12 substitutes the more ordinary ‘Observe.’

sabbath] Heb. shabbâth. The derivation is uncertain. As a Hebrew, word, it would naturally be connected with shâbath, to desist, cease,—see Isa_14:4; Isa_24:8; with from, Gen_2:2-3 : where the sabbath is thought of, either with ‘from work’ understood, or as a ‘denominative,’ to ‘keep sabbath,’ Exo_16:30; Exo_23:12 a, Exo_31:17, Exo_34:21, Lev_25:34-35—and suggest the idea of cessation from work. The verb shâbath denotes ‘rest,’ not in the positive sense of relaxation or refreshment (which is nûaḥ, see v. 11, Exo_23:12 b), but in the negative sense of cessation from work or activity: but it is at least possible that the word ‘sabbath’ is of Babylonian origin (p. 198), though of uncertain etymology (see DB. iv. 319a; note also, on the etym., the reserve expressed by Zimmern, ZDMG. 1904, p. 202). Even, however, though this should be its origin, the word might well have been connected by the Hebrews with the Heb. shâbath, and regarded by them as suggesting the idea of cessation. See further, on the Bab. and Heb. ‘sabbath,’ KAT.3[177] 592–4.

[177] Die Keilinschriften und das A T., 1903, by H. Zimmern (pp. 345–653) and H. Winckler (pp. 1–342).

keep … holy] elsewhere rendered hallow, as v. 11 end, Gen_2:3 a, Jer_17:12 al. Comp. Isa_58:13 (‘my holy day’).

Exodus 20:8-11

The fourth commandment. The observance of the Sabbath.