In the Old Testament creation account, God rested from His work on the seventh day.
Genesis describes creation as taking place across six days: light, the sky, land and vegetation, the celestial bodies, sea life and birds, then land animals and humanity. Genesis 2:2–3 says that the work was finished on the seventh day and that God rested, blessed, and sanctified it.
This seventh-day rest forms the biblical foundation of the Sabbath. The Hebrew concept is more than ordinary tiredness; it signifies ceasing or stopping because the creative work is complete. Exodus later connects the weekly Sabbath pattern with the six-day creation account and calls the seventh day holy.
A common mix-up is to confuse the seventh day with the sixth day, when humans are created. Another is to assume that “rest” means inactivity alone: in the biblical narrative, it also marks the completion, ordering, and consecration of creation.