Image Details

The Art Archive/Palazzo Pubblico Siena/Gianni Dagli Orti

DID GOD WORK ON THE SABBATH? After the creation, God holds the world in his hand in this early 15th-century panel by Domenico di Niccolo at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Italy. According to several modern translations of the Masoretic text, on the seventh day God “finished the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:2). Other texts, such as the Greek Septuagint, have God finishing his work on the “sixth” day. Which version is to be preferred? In other words, on which day did God begin to rest?