Why do we keep the Shabbat? Let the sources speak:
E: Six days you shall do the things you do, and on the seventh day you shall cease, so that your ox and your ass will rest, and your maid's son will be refreshed. (Shemot 23:12)
J: Six days you shall work, and on the seventh day you shall cease. In plowing time and in harvest, you shall cease. (Shemot 34:21)
D: Observe the Shabbat day, to make it holy, as HaShem, your G-d, commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, and the seventh day is a Shabbat to HaShem, your G-d. You shall not do any work, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and your ox and your ass or any animal and your alien who is in your gates - in order that your servant and your maid will rest like you, and you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Mitzraim and HaShem, your G-d, brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. On account of this, HaShem, your G-d, has commanded you to do the Shabbat day. (Devarim 5:12-15)
P: Remember the Shabbat day to make it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, and the seventh day is a Shabbat to HaShem, your G-d. You shall not do any work, you and your son and your daughter, your servant and your maid and your animal and your alien who is in your gates. Because for six days HaShem made the skies and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. On account of this, HaShem blessed the Shabbat day and made it holy. (Shemot 20:8-11)
