Discovery BoxGenesis 2:2-3 
Context2:2 By 1 the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, 2 and he ceased 3 on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy 4 because on it he ceased all the work that he 5 had been doing in creation. 6
1 tn Heb “on/in the seventh day.”
2 tn Heb “his work which he did [or “made”].”
3 tn The Hebrew term שָׁבַּת (shabbat) can be translated “to rest” (“and he rested”) but it basically means “to cease.” This is not a rest from exhaustion; it is the cessation of the work of creation.
4 tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.
5 tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”
