Rabbi Akiva Proves the Sabbath to Turnus Rufus the Wicked

Turnus Rufus the wicked asked Rabbi Akiva, "What makes this day different from other days?" He said to him, "What makes this man different from other men?" He said, "What did I say to you and what did you say to me?" He said, "You said, 'What makes this day different from other days?' meaning, why is the Sabbath different from all days. I said, 'What makes this man different from other men,' meaning, why is Rufus different from every other man." He said, "Because the king wished to honor me." He said, "This too, the King wished to honor it." He said, "From where can you prove it to me?" He said, "Let the river Sambatyon prove it, for it carries stones along all the days of the week and on the Sabbath it rests." He said, "You are merely diverting me." He said, "Then let one who raises the dead by necromancy prove it, for the dead rises every day of the week but does not rise on the Sabbath." And that man went to test it with his own father. He needed to once, and he raised his father every day of the week, but on the Sabbath he did not rise. After the Sabbath he raised him, and he said to him, "Since you died have you become a Jew? Why did you rise every day but not on the Sabbath?" He said to him, "Whoever does not keep the Sabbath among you of his own will, here keeps it against his will." He said to him, "And what labor do you have all week that you rest on the Sabbath?" He said to him, "All the days of the year we are judged, and on the Sabbath we rest." He returned to Rabbi Akiva and said, "If it is as you say, that the Holy One, blessed be He, desires the honor of the Sabbath, let Him not make the winds blow on it, nor bring down rain on it, nor make the ground sprout on it." He said to him, "May the breath of that man be blasted. Let me give you a parable: to what is this like? It is like one who carries within his four cubits," and so on. And why did He bless it? Because it has no partner: the first day of the week has the second, the third the fourth, the fifth the eve of the Sabbath; the Sabbath has no partner.