Sabbath (שַׁבָּת) The Sabbath (Shabbat, related to the Hebrew verb “shavat,” meaning “cease, rest”) is the seventh day of the week, a day of rest and refraining from work. Scholars have related the word “Sabbath” to the Babylonian “sapattu,” the full moon at mid-month, which apparently was a day of favor, or to the “unlucky day” occurring at seven-day intervals when the king’s activity was severely restricted.1 However, there is no convincing explanation of how it