Exodus 16:29

Summary

Moses tells the people to recognize that Yehovah has given them the shabbat ("sabbath", H7676) and that this is the reason he provides a double portion of bread on the sixth day. The verse closes with a command for each person to remain in place and not go out on the seventh day.

Key words

• re.'U ("consider", H7200I) — qal imperative plural, an emphatic command opening the verse, addressed to the whole community.
• na.Tan ("he has given", H5414G) — qal perfect, marking a completed act: Yehovah's giving of the sabbath is presented as an accomplished fact, not an ongoing process.
• no.Ten ("[is] giving", H5414G) — same root as na.Tan but in the participle form, expressing continuous or habitual action: the giving of double bread on the sixth day is depicted as a recurring practice, contrasted with the completed na.Tan.
• she.Vu ("remain", H3427) — qal imperative plural, a second direct command, parallel to re.'U, instructing the people to stay in place.
• Ye.tze' ("him go out", H3318G) — qal jussive, a third-person indirect command ("let him not go out"), grammatically distinct from the second-person imperatives, softening the prohibition into a wish/instruction applied to "anyone" ('ish, H0376I).

What the text says

The verse divides into two logical movements marked by the particle ki- ("that/if", H3588A) and the phrase 'al ken ("there-fore", H5921A + H3651C). The first clause, introduced by the imperative re.'U, uses the perfect verb na.Tan to assert a completed reality: Yehovah has given the shabbat. The consequence is drawn with 'al ken, followed by the participle no.Ten, which shifts the aspect from a single completed act to a repeated, ongoing behavior — the ration of lechem yomayim ("bread of two days", H3899H + H3117G in dual form) supplied specifically ba.Yom ha.shishi ("on the sixth day", H3117G + H8345).

The second half of the verse contains two commands with different grammatical force. She.Vu is a direct plural imperative ("remain"), addressed to the group but distributed individually through 'ish ("everyone", H0376I) with tach.Ta- ("in his place", H8478I, construct plural form with pronominal suffix). The prohibition that follows, 'al yetze', uses the jussive rather than a second-person imperative, formally expressing "let no man go out" — a grammatical nuance not distinguished in the English or Spanish translations, which render both commands as parallel direct imperatives ("stay... let no one go out" / "quédense... no salir").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha.shabbat ("the sabbath", H7676) as τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην ("this day"), omitting the specific term "sabbath" found in the Hebrew and in the Vulgate's sabbatum. The LXX also translates she.Vu ish tach.Tav ("remain each in his place") as καθήσεσθε ἕκαστος εἰς τοὺς οἴκους ὑμῶν ("you shall sit each in your houses"), specifying "houses" where the Hebrew tach.Ta- simply indicates "his place" without naming a dwelling. The Vulgate's maneat unusquisque apud semetimum ("let each remain with himself") likewise generalizes the location differently from both the Hebrew and the LXX.