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31 July 2022 Navigate 'up' to the Genesis index: index-genesis.
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. -- Revised Version
This story, among other things, sets up the concept of Sabbath -- that God's people were not to work on the seventh day, a remembrance, according to the Bible, of God's rest on the seventh day of the creation.
The Hebrew word kalah, here "finished," must not then mean that God is putting the finishing touches on his work on the seventh day. His last work of creation was the creation of humankind. The seventh day he simply rests.
The Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch read, And on the sixth day God finished his work; and he rested on the seventh day ... If, as Dillmann said, this is simply an attempt to make a potential problem go away, then the reading is understandable.
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