Although printed in prose form, the two sentences of verse 2 are clearly parallel poetically and say essentially the same thing.

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done: this is ambiguous since it can mean that God worked on the seventh day and then finished, or that he did not work on the seventh day but his work was finished when that day came. The intended sense is the second of these. In order to avoid seeming to say that God worked on the seventh day, the Septuagint translates seventh with “sixth.” So also New English Bible and Revised English Bible. Good News Translation attempts to avoid misunderstanding by translating “by the seventh day God finished….” His work translates a noun that covers a wide range of meanings. It is used to refer to a person’s occupation or business, the particular skills required in producing something useful, or the object that is produced. It is also used in reference to unskilled work. All work was banned on the weekly Sabbath (Exo 20.9-10) and on the festival Sabbaths (Lev 16.29).

In translation it is best to make clear that God did not work on the seventh day; for example, “When the seventh day came God had finished all his work.” One translation has “On day number 7 God saw that all his work was finished, and he rested on this day.” Another translation joins together verses 1.31 and 2.1 to say “… Then all his work in making the earth and the sky and everything in them was finished, and this day finished. This was day number 6 of the world.” Verse 2 then continues, “God’s work was finished, then on day number 7 of the world he rested from all the work he had been doing.”

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done: rested does not suggest that God had to relax and refresh his strength, although this sense is clear in the context of the same word as it is used in Exo 31.17. Here rested means “to cease, stop, bring to an end,” and it is used again in this sense in Gen 8.22, where God promises Noah that “summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” The Hebrew verb “to rest” is shabath and sounds like the word for “Sabbath,” which is shabbath. Work is the same word used in the previous clause.

In translation it is important to avoid a word that may suggest rest as ceasing difficult work, since that will suggest that God was exhausted and in need of refreshment from heavy labor. On the other hand a word meaning “to stop work” that means “quitting or giving up” is equally inappropriate. Good News Translation says “stopped working.” Many translations prefer “rested” and place “ceased” in a footnote.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .