Texts in Conversation
Genesis says God finished his work “on the seventh day,” language that can be interpreted to say God worked on the Sabbath. The Greek Septuagint, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Peshitta change it to “on the sixth day,” to avoid that possible interpretation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Genesis 2:2
Septuagint
1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them. 2 And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he ceased from all his works which God began to do.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis Rabbah 10:9
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Geniva and the Rabbis, Geniva said: This is analogous to a king who made himself a wedding canopy, painted it and embossed it. What was it lacking? A bride [kalla] to enter it. So, too, what was the world lacking? Shabbat. The Rabbis say: This is analogous to a king for whom they crafted a signet ring. What was lacking? The seal. So, too, what was the world lacking? Shabbat. This is one of the matters that they changed for King Ptolemy – [they wrote] “God completed on the sixth day…and He rested on the seventh day.” King Ptolemy once asked the rabbis in Rome: ‘In how many days did the Holy One blessed be He create His world?’ They said to him: ‘In six days.’ He said to them: ‘And ever since that time, Gehenna has been burning for the wicked? Woe to the world from its judgments.’ “His labor” – did Rabbi Berekhya not say this in the name of Rabbi Simon: It was not with toil and not with exertion that the Holy One blessed be He created His world. And you say “from all His labor”? This is bewildering. The explanation is that it is to exact retribution against the wicked, who demolish the world [as if it were] all created with toil and with exertion, and to grant a reward to the righteous, who sustain the world [as if it were] all created with toil and with exertion.
Date: 500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... An interesting exegetical example concerns Genesis 2:2, where the Hebrew reads, "On the seventh day God ended his work." In contrast the Greek version (and the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Peshitta, and the Genesis Midrash) reads, "On the sixth day God ended his work." The Hebrew expression could be construed to mean that God actually did some work on the seventh day before he rested, Because of the importance of this passage for Sabbath-keeping, this point apparently was argued and settled among Jewish exegetes, so texts subsequent to that exegetical discussion were reworded to avoid suggesting that God created anything on the seventh day. The cessation of work on the sixth day is meant to indicate that God may have worked right up to the last moment before the seventh day, but ceased his work as soon as the seventh day had begun. This is an example where the Greek translator apparently chose not to follow the Hebrew text, but to make his translation consistent with the traditional exegesis of the law ..."
Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000), 98.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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