“And on the seventh day God finished His work which he had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made”
This is the reading that has been translated from the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT), and as it reads, shows that God was still working on the Seventh Day, and later on this Day He completed His work.
Some commentators, like Calvin, render it “had finished”, as if the verb וַיְכַל were in the pluperfect tense, but this is contrary to Hebrew grammar.
This reading in the MT, cannot be the correct one as in the Original Autograph of Moses, as it clearly is contradictory to what the Bible says in other places. The reading of the MT, and those translations based on this text, must be rejected, as not being from the Inerrant Word of God, which is Infallible and Perfect in every place.
The New Heart English Bible, as far as I am aware, is the only Version that has “Sixth Day”:
“And on the sixth day God finished his works which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made
The Bible is very clear that God did all of His Creating in Six Days, and nothing on the Seventh.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31)
“For six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the Day the Seventh. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11)
“that six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the Day the Seventh He rested and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:17)
The MT is not the earliest textual authority of the Hebrew Old Testament. This work was begun around the 6th century A.D., and completed in the 10th. The Dead Sea Scrolls is of no value for this verse, as is only has two words that survive: “His…that”, there rest is missing.
However, we do have the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch, which is a Pre-Masoretic Hebrew text, and dates from the 2nd century B.C, which reads “Sixth”
“And on the six day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made”
Then, also for the pre MT Hebrew, we have the Old Testament Apocrypha book of Jubilees, also known as “Little Genesis”.
“And He finished all His work on the sixth day” (R H Charles, Book of Jubilees 2.16, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Note, on the sixth day. So Gen. ii. 2a, Sam., LXX, Syr. against Mass. vol. II, p.14)
This work dates from the 2nd century B.C., and originally written in Hebrew (F F Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, p. 206). “the Book of Jubilees, written probably in the time of John Hyrcanus” 164-104 B.C. (Jewish Encyclopedia). It has been preserved in Ethiopic, and partially in Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Latin. Some fragments have been found in Hebrew among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is an important early witness of the Hebrew text which dates from the closing centuries B.C.
The next witness to the Hebrew text in the first century A.D., is found in the Jewish historian Josephus, who was born a few years after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus, in about A.D. 37.
“Accordingly Moses says, That in just six days the world, and all that is therein, was made. And that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labor of such operations” (Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 1.23)
Next we have the Aramaic Targum, a text the dates from the 1st century A.D., but representing one that is much older.
“And the creatures of the heavens and earth, and all the hosts of them, were completed. And the Lord had finished by the Seventh Day the work which He had wrought, and the ten formations which He had created between the suns; and He rested the Seventh Day from all His works which He had performed. And the Lord blessed the Seventh Day more than all the days of the week, and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works which the Lord had created and had willed to make” (J. W. Etheridge; The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch, With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee)
The reading here says that God has “finished by the Seventh Day”, and that “He rested the Seventh Day”. This shows that God did no work on the Seventh Day.
We also have two Ancient Versions of the OT, that were made directly from the Hebrew, and pre-date the MT.
In the Syriac Peshitta Version, this verse reads:
“And on the six day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made”
Instead of “Seventh ” (שׁבעי) Day, it reads “Six” (שׁשּׁי), which would remove any difficulty that the reading of the MT has. Of this Version we are told:
“The Syriac translation of the Old Testament was undoubtedly made directly from the Hebrew; though at Antioch, during the third century of the present era and at later periods, it was revised so as to make it conform to the Septuagint. The history of its origin is obscure; but it was probably made in Mesopotamia during the first century” (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol III, p.188)
This reading is also found in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX).
“And God finished on the sixth (ἕκτος) day these his works which he made; and on the seventh (ἕβδομος) day he desisted from all these works of his which he made”
Of this Version we are told:
“For convenience, it is assumed throughout what follows that a single set of original translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek was effected in several stages, and in locations not known for sure; that the earliest parts (most likely the Torah) of the translation took place in the 3d century B.C.E. (perhaps in Egypt) and the last parts were completed by the first part of the 1st century B.C.E.” (David Freedman; The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume V, p.7974)
Although the reading of the Latin Vulgate manuscripts that we have, and the various Editions, read “Seventh Day”. The International Critical Commentary cites Jerome as reading “sixth day” here in his work, “Hebrew Questions on Genesis” (John Skinner, Genesis, page 37), which shows that it was the reading in the Hebrew text, from which he made his Latin Vulgate translation.
This is the reading that has been translated from the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT), and as it reads, shows that God was still working on the Seventh Day, and later on this Day He completed His work.
Some commentators, like Calvin, render it “had finished”, as if the verb וַיְכַל were in the pluperfect tense, but this is contrary to Hebrew grammar.
This reading in the MT, cannot be the correct one as in the Original Autograph of Moses, as it clearly is contradictory to what the Bible says in other places. The reading of the MT, and those translations based on this text, must be rejected, as not being from the Inerrant Word of God, which is Infallible and Perfect in every place.
The New Heart English Bible, as far as I am aware, is the only Version that has “Sixth Day”:
“And on the sixth day God finished his works which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had made
The Bible is very clear that God did all of His Creating in Six Days, and nothing on the Seventh.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31)
“For six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the Day the Seventh. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11)
“that six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the Day the Seventh He rested and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:17)
The MT is not the earliest textual authority of the Hebrew Old Testament. This work was begun around the 6th century A.D., and completed in the 10th. The Dead Sea Scrolls is of no value for this verse, as is only has two words that survive: “His…that”, there rest is missing.
However, we do have the Samaritan Hebrew Pentateuch, which is a Pre-Masoretic Hebrew text, and dates from the 2nd century B.C, which reads “Sixth”
“And on the six day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made”
Then, also for the pre MT Hebrew, we have the Old Testament Apocrypha book of Jubilees, also known as “Little Genesis”.
“And He finished all His work on the sixth day” (R H Charles, Book of Jubilees 2.16, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Note, on the sixth day. So Gen. ii. 2a, Sam., LXX, Syr. against Mass. vol. II, p.14)
This work dates from the 2nd century B.C., and originally written in Hebrew (F F Bruce, The Books and the Parchments, p. 206). “the Book of Jubilees, written probably in the time of John Hyrcanus” 164-104 B.C. (Jewish Encyclopedia). It has been preserved in Ethiopic, and partially in Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Latin. Some fragments have been found in Hebrew among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is an important early witness of the Hebrew text which dates from the closing centuries B.C.
The next witness to the Hebrew text in the first century A.D., is found in the Jewish historian Josephus, who was born a few years after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus, in about A.D. 37.
“Accordingly Moses says, That in just six days the world, and all that is therein, was made. And that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labor of such operations” (Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 1.23)
Next we have the Aramaic Targum, a text the dates from the 1st century A.D., but representing one that is much older.
“And the creatures of the heavens and earth, and all the hosts of them, were completed. And the Lord had finished by the Seventh Day the work which He had wrought, and the ten formations which He had created between the suns; and He rested the Seventh Day from all His works which He had performed. And the Lord blessed the Seventh Day more than all the days of the week, and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works which the Lord had created and had willed to make” (J. W. Etheridge; The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch, With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee)
The reading here says that God has “finished by the Seventh Day”, and that “He rested the Seventh Day”. This shows that God did no work on the Seventh Day.
We also have two Ancient Versions of the OT, that were made directly from the Hebrew, and pre-date the MT.
In the Syriac Peshitta Version, this verse reads:
“And on the six day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made”
Instead of “Seventh ” (שׁבעי) Day, it reads “Six” (שׁשּׁי), which would remove any difficulty that the reading of the MT has. Of this Version we are told:
“The Syriac translation of the Old Testament was undoubtedly made directly from the Hebrew; though at Antioch, during the third century of the present era and at later periods, it was revised so as to make it conform to the Septuagint. The history of its origin is obscure; but it was probably made in Mesopotamia during the first century” (Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol III, p.188)
This reading is also found in the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX).
“And God finished on the sixth (ἕκτος) day these his works which he made; and on the seventh (ἕβδομος) day he desisted from all these works of his which he made”
Of this Version we are told:
“For convenience, it is assumed throughout what follows that a single set of original translations of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek was effected in several stages, and in locations not known for sure; that the earliest parts (most likely the Torah) of the translation took place in the 3d century B.C.E. (perhaps in Egypt) and the last parts were completed by the first part of the 1st century B.C.E.” (David Freedman; The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume V, p.7974)
Although the reading of the Latin Vulgate manuscripts that we have, and the various Editions, read “Seventh Day”. The International Critical Commentary cites Jerome as reading “sixth day” here in his work, “Hebrew Questions on Genesis” (John Skinner, Genesis, page 37), which shows that it was the reading in the Hebrew text, from which he made his Latin Vulgate translation.
