Editing Shabbat (section)

===Babylon===
{{See also|Babylonian calendar}}

A number of scholars propose a [[cognate]] [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] word ''šapattu'' or ''šabattu'', which refers to the day of the [[full moon]]. A lexicographic list found in the [[library of Ashurbanipal]] glosses ''šabattu'' as "[the gods'] day of the heart's rest" (''ūm nûḫ libbi''), although this probably refers to the appeasement of the gods' anger.<ref>{{cite book |title=Israel's Day of Light and Joy: The Origin, Development, and Enduring Meaning of the Jewish Sabbath |last=Levenson |first=Jon D. |publisher=Penn State Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-64602-286-1 |pages=24–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNINEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA24}}</ref> Other scholars doubt that there is a connection between the biblical Sabbath and the Akkadian ''šapattu''/''šabattu'', as the two words may not have a common etymology and ''šapattu'' refers almost exclusively to the fifteenth day of the month or the phenomenon of lunar alignment, not to the seventh day of a week.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Sabbath in Judean Communities during the Mid-fifth Century BCE: Onomastic Evidence |journal=Journal of Ancient Judaism |last1=Ganzel |first1=Tova |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=29–42 |last2=Safford |first2=Jan |year=2025 |doi=10.30965/21967954-bja10067 |issn=2196-7954 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|32-33}}

Connection to Sabbath observance has been suggested in the designation of the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first and twenty-eight days of a lunar month in an Assyrian religious calendar as a 'holy day', also called 'evil days' (meaning "unsuitable" for prohibited activities). The prohibitions on these days, spaced seven days apart (except the nineteenth), include abstaining from chariot riding, and the avoidance of eating meat by the King.  On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make a wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest-day".<ref>"Histoire du peuple hébreu". [[André Lemaire]]. Presses Universitaires de France 2009 (8e édition), p. 66</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week|first=Eviatar |last=Zerubavel|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=1985|isbn=0-226-98165-7}}</ref> This theory has also been challenged on the grounds that the 'evil days' did not always fall every seven days and did not entail a general cessation of work.<ref>{{cite book |title=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |last=Bromiley |first=Geoffrey William |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-8028-3784-4 |page=248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&pg=PA248 |volume=4}}</ref>

The ''[[Universal Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' advanced a theory of [[Assyriologist]]s like [[Friedrich Delitzsch]]<ref name=landau/> (and of [[Marcello Craveri]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Craveri, Marcello|title=The Life of Jesus|publisher=Grove Press|date=1967|page=134}}</ref> that Shabbat originally arose from the [[lunar cycle]] in the [[Babylonian calendar]]<ref>{{cite book|date=1943|title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An authoritative and popular presentation of Jews and Judaism since the earliest times|volume=5|page=410|editor=Landman, Isaac|chapter=Holidays|author=Joseph, Max|others=Cohen, Simon, compiler|publisher=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc|editor-link=Isaac Landman}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|date=1943|title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An authoritative and popular presentation of Jews and Judaism since the earliest times|volume=9|page=295|editor=Landman, Isaac|chapter=Sabbath|author=Joseph, Max|others=Cohen, Simon, compiler|publisher=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incv|editor-link= Isaac Landman}}</ref> containing four weeks ending in a Sabbath, plus one or two additional unreckoned days per month.<ref>{{cite book|date=1943|title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An authoritative and popular presentation of Jews and Judaism since the earliest times|volume=10|page=482|editor=Landman, Isaac|chapter=Week|author=Cohen, Simon|others=Cohen, Simon, compiler|publisher=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc |editor-link= Isaac Landman}}</ref>  The difficulties of this theory include reconciling the differences between an unbroken week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Sabbath in any language.<ref name="orr" />