This verse is an abbreviated statement of the commandment in 20.8-11. Six days you shall work is identical with 20.9. But on the seventh day you shall rest uses the verb shavath, which means to cease or stop working. It does not have the basic meaning of resting from being tired. Good News Translation is quite correct: “but do not work on the seventh day”; Contemporary English Version states it positively: “rest on the seventh day.” The same word is used for “rest” in Gen 2.3, but a different word is used in 20.11. (See the comment there and at 16.30.)

In plowing time is one word derived from the verb “to plow.” In harvest is derived from the verb “to harvest.” Together they mean “during the seasons of plowing and harvesting” (New American Bible). You shall rest uses the word shavath again, meaning “you must cease work” (Revised English Bible). An alternative model is “not even during the times when you plow the fields or harvest the crops.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .