Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
World English Bible
Exodus 31:16
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
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- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
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Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Is it necessary to keep the Sabbath?
The Torah and the prophets repeatedly insist the Sabbath is a perpetual sign of the covenant — Exodus 31:13-16 calls it an everlasting obligation and Isaiah 56:2 blesses anyone who keeps it. But Isaiah 1:13 has YHWH calling new moons and sabbath assemblies "iniquity" he can't stand.
Critical scholarship: Usually considered reconciled.
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
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This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Exodus 31:16 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/exodus/31/16?version=WEB (retrieved 26 August 2026).