Exodus 16:30

Summary

The verse reports that the people ceased activity on the seventh day, closing the episode concerning the collection of manna described earlier in the chapter. It is a short narrative clause marking the completion of the weekly cycle referenced in the preceding verses.

Key words

• va-yishbetu ("and they rested", H7673A) — qal verb in the narrative (vav-consecutive) form, third person masculine plural, indicating a completed sequential action: "and they rested/ceased."
• ha-'am ("the people", H5971A) — masculine singular noun with definite article, functioning as the subject of the verb; grammatically singular in Hebrew though referring to a collective group.
• ba-yom ("on the day", H3117G) — noun with prefixed preposition and article, marking the temporal setting of the action ("in the day").
• ha-shevi'i ("the seventh", H7637) — masculine singular ordinal number with definite article, modifying yom ("day") to specify which day is meant.

What the text says

The clause follows the standard Biblical Hebrew narrative pattern: a vav-consecutive verb (va-yishbetu) placed first, followed by its subject (ha-'am). This word order is typical for sequential narrative action, presenting the resting of the people as the next event in the story's timeline. The verb yishbetu comes from the root behind H7673A, meaning "to cease" or "to rest," describing the cessation of an activity rather than describing sleep or leisure.

The phrase ba-yom ha-shevi'i ("on the seventh day") supplies the temporal frame using a construct-like sequence: preposition + noun ("in the day") followed by the ordinal number with its own article ("the seventh"), agreeing in definiteness with yom. This construction pinpoints a specific day within a numbered sequence, implying that the preceding six days had been already delineated by the narrative context, though that context is not part of this verse itself.

The subject ha-'am is grammatically singular but functions collectively, a common feature in Biblical Hebrew where a group noun takes a singular form while the associated verb can be pluralized, as seen here with yishbetu in the plural despite the singular noun 'am.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders va-yishbetu ("and they rested/ceased," H7673A) with the Greek verb esabbatisen, a form built on the term "sabbath," making the connection to the sabbatical concept more explicit than the Hebrew root H7673A alone. The Vulgate similarly uses sabbatizavit, following the same sabbath-based verbal choice as the LXX. The Hebrew verb itself relates to general "resting/ceasing" and does not inherently include a term derived from "sabbath," though the same root underlies the Hebrew noun for sabbath elsewhere.