'Servant' in the Bible

Then he said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please do not go on past your servant.

Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can’t run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,

The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”

So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

The servant took 10 of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand. Then he set out for Nahor’s town Aram-naharaim.

Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jug.”

“I am Abraham’s servant,” he said.

When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the Lord.

So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men.

Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.

and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.

I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.

then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.’”

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”

Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.

But Judah approached him and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

“This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported your words to him.

Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

“So if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us—his life is wrapped up with the boy’s life—

when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hairs of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against you, my father.’

Now please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave, in place of the boy. Let him go back with his brothers.