diff --git a/internal/base/base.go b/internal/base/base.go
index e6bd364..0bb8465 100644
--- a/internal/base/base.go
+++ b/internal/base/base.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ const (
 	RetryQueue      = "asynq:retry"                  // ZSET
 	DeadQueue       = "asynq:dead"                   // ZSET
 	InProgressQueue = "asynq:in_progress"            // LIST
+	PausedQueues    = "asynq:paused"                 // SET
 	CancelChannel   = "asynq:cancel"                 // PubSub channel
 )
 
diff --git a/internal/rdb/inspect.go b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
index 79c1c3e..99f30a4 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/inspect.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/inspect.go
@@ -830,3 +830,33 @@ func (r *RDB) ListWorkers() ([]*base.WorkerInfo, error) {
 	}
 	return workers, nil
 }
+
+// KEYS[1] -> asynq:paused
+// ARGV[1] -> asynq:queues:<qname> - queue to pause
+var pauseCmd = redis.NewScript(`
+local ismem = redis.call("SISMEMBER", KEYS[1], ARGV[1])
+if ismem == 1 then
+	return redis.error_reply("queue is already paused")
+end
+return redis.call("SADD", KEYS[1], ARGV[1])`)
+
+// Pause pauses processing of tasks from the given queue.
+func (r *RDB) Pause(qname string) error {
+	qkey := base.QueueKey(qname)
+	return pauseCmd.Run(r.client, []string{base.PausedQueues}, qkey).Err()
+}
+
+// KEYS[1] -> asynq:paused
+// ARGV[1] -> asynq:queues:<qname> - queue to unpause
+var unpauseCmd = redis.NewScript(`
+local ismem = redis.call("SISMEMBER", KEYS[1], ARGV[1])
+if ismem == 0 then
+	return redis.error_reply("queue is not paused")
+end
+return redis.call("SREM", KEYS[1], ARGV[1])`)
+
+// Unpause resumes processing of tasks from the given queue.
+func (r *RDB) Unpause(qname string) error {
+	qkey := base.QueueKey(qname)
+	return unpauseCmd.Run(r.client, []string{base.PausedQueues}, qkey).Err()
+}
diff --git a/internal/rdb/inspect_test.go b/internal/rdb/inspect_test.go
index c0b2c09..986e254 100644
--- a/internal/rdb/inspect_test.go
+++ b/internal/rdb/inspect_test.go
@@ -2156,3 +2156,164 @@ func TestListWorkers(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestPause(t *testing.T) {
+	r := setup(t)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		initial []string // initial queue keys in the set
+		qname   string   // queue name to pause
+		want    []string // expected queue keys in the set
+	}{
+		{[]string{}, "default", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}},
+		{[]string{"asynq:queues:default"}, "critical", []string{"asynq:queues:default", "asynq:queues:critical"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		h.FlushDB(t, r.client)
+
+		// Set up initial state.
+		for _, qkey := range tc.initial {
+			if err := r.client.SAdd(base.PausedQueues, qkey).Err(); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		err := r.Pause(tc.qname)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Pause(%q) returned error: %v", tc.qname, err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		got, err := r.client.SMembers(base.PausedQueues).Result()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		if diff := cmp.Diff(tc.want, got, h.SortStringSliceOpt); diff != "" {
+			t.Errorf("%q has members %v, want %v; (-want,+got)\n%s",
+				base.PausedQueues, got, tc.want, diff)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPauseError(t *testing.T) {
+	r := setup(t)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		desc    string   // test case description
+		initial []string // initial queue keys in the set
+		qname   string   // queue name to pause
+		want    []string // expected queue keys in the set
+	}{
+		{"queue already paused", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}, "default", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		h.FlushDB(t, r.client)
+
+		// Set up initial state.
+		for _, qkey := range tc.initial {
+			if err := r.client.SAdd(base.PausedQueues, qkey).Err(); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		err := r.Pause(tc.qname)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s; Pause(%q) returned nil: want error", tc.desc, tc.qname)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		got, err := r.client.SMembers(base.PausedQueues).Result()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		if diff := cmp.Diff(tc.want, got, h.SortStringSliceOpt); diff != "" {
+			t.Errorf("%s; %q has members %v, want %v; (-want,+got)\n%s",
+				tc.desc, base.PausedQueues, got, tc.want, diff)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUnpause(t *testing.T) {
+	r := setup(t)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		initial []string // initial queue keys in the set
+		qname   string   // queue name to unpause
+		want    []string // expected queue keys in the set
+	}{
+		{[]string{"asynq:queues:default"}, "default", []string{}},
+		{[]string{"asynq:queues:default", "asynq:queues:low"}, "low", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		h.FlushDB(t, r.client)
+
+		// Set up initial state.
+		for _, qkey := range tc.initial {
+			if err := r.client.SAdd(base.PausedQueues, qkey).Err(); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		err := r.Unpause(tc.qname)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Unpause(%q) returned error: %v", tc.qname, err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		got, err := r.client.SMembers(base.PausedQueues).Result()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		if diff := cmp.Diff(tc.want, got, h.SortStringSliceOpt); diff != "" {
+			t.Errorf("%q has members %v, want %v; (-want,+got)\n%s",
+				base.PausedQueues, got, tc.want, diff)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUnpauseError(t *testing.T) {
+	r := setup(t)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		desc    string   // test case description
+		initial []string // initial queue keys in the set
+		qname   string   // queue name to unpause
+		want    []string // expected queue keys in the set
+	}{
+		{"set is empty", []string{}, "default", []string{}},
+		{"queue is not in the set", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}, "low", []string{"asynq:queues:default"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		h.FlushDB(t, r.client)
+
+		// Set up initial state.
+		for _, qkey := range tc.initial {
+			if err := r.client.SAdd(base.PausedQueues, qkey).Err(); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}
+
+		err := r.Unpause(tc.qname)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s; Unpause(%q) returned nil: want error", tc.desc, tc.qname)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		got, err := r.client.SMembers(base.PausedQueues).Result()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+
+		if diff := cmp.Diff(tc.want, got, h.SortStringSliceOpt); diff != "" {
+			t.Errorf("%s; %q has members %v, want %v; (-want,+got)\n%s",
+				tc.desc, base.PausedQueues, got, tc.want, diff)
+		}
+	}
+}