Genesis 2:2

on the seventh day Some misunderstanding arose in very early times in consequence of these words. Jealous for the sanctity of the Sabbath, men said, "No, not on the seventh day, but on the sixth day, God finished the work of creation." So we find "on the sixth day" is the reading of the Samaritan, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitto. The mistake was not unnatural: it was not perceived that the conclusion of work was identical with the cessation from work. God wrought no work on the seventh day; therefore, it is said, He brought His work to an end on the seventh day. The reading, "on the sixth day," may be dismissed as an erroneous correction made in the interests of keeping the Sabbath. All reference to the sixth day was concluded in ch. Genesis 1:31.

his work LXX τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, "his works." The same Hebrew word as in the Fourth Commandment, Exodus 20:9, "all thy work"; it denotes not so much the "result" of labour, as its "process," or "occupation." Driver renders by "business."

rested LXX κατέπαυσε = "ceased," Lat. requierit. Heb. shâbathhas strictly the sense of "ceasing," or "desisting." It is this thought rather than that of "resting" after labour, which is here prominent. Elsewhere, the idea that God rested on the seventh day, is more directly expressed, e.g. Exodus 31:17, "And on the seventh day he (the Lord) rested (shâbath, -desisted") and was refreshed." The idea of "cessation" from the employment of the six days suggested the conception of "rest," which is mentioned, both in Exodus 20:11; Exodus 31:17, as the sanction for the observance of the Sabbath. Rest in the best sense is not idleness, but alteration in the direction of activity.