<P> The full text of the commandment reads: </P> <P> Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy . Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God . On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates . For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day . Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy . </P> <P> When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments at biblical Mount Sinai, they were commanded to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy by not doing any work and allowing the whole household to cease from work . This was in recognition of God's act of creation and the special status that God had conferred on the seventh day during the creation week . </P> <P> The Torah portrays the Sabbath concept both in terms of resting on the seventh day and allowing land to lie fallow during each seventh year . The motivation is described as going beyond a sign and remembrance of Yahweh's original rest during the creation week and extends to a concern that one's servants, family, and livestock be able to rest and be refreshed from their work . In addition to the instruction to rest on each seventh day and seventh year, periods of seven days are often relevant aspects of Biblical instructions . For example, the quarantine period for suspected skin diseases after initial examination by a priest was seven days, after which the priest would re-examine the skin and pronounce the person clean or unclean . Other special days included the day after the seventh Sabbath, the first day of the seventh month, the day of ritual cleansing after being healed from an unclean disease or other event bringing uncleanness . In addition, in the battle of Jericho, Joshua commanded the army to march around Jericho each day for seven consecutive days and to march around Jericho seven times on the seventh day . </P>

What does it mean to keep the sabath holy