Abstract
From a literary point of view the Sabbath-Commandment is the most extensive and most elaborated part of the Decalogue. In modern times critical research has devoted much attention to the differences between the two text-versions (Exo. 20:8-11 and Deut. 5:12-15).
These differences have usually been interpreted in the framework of historical-critical or literary-critical hypotheses. In contrast, this study aims to highlight the corresponding elements in the two texts, especially in the overall construction logic of the Sabbath-Proclamation, in its text-syntax and palistrophic structure.
Because of the considerable degree of agreement on various levels, which is demonstrated in the overall intratextual ties as well as in the correspondence in detail, the two texts are evaluated to be two variant elaborations of a literary, textually defined entity.