'Servant' in the Bible

Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar.

So Sarai said to Abram, "Since the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her." Abram did what Sarai told him.

So after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram's wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband to be his wife.

Then Sarai said to Abram, "You have brought this wrong on me! I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, but when she realized that she was pregnant, she despised me. May the Lord judge between you and me!"

Abram said to Sarai, "Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best." Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.

He said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai."

He said, "My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant.

Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.

Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I'll die.

Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, "Put your hand under my thigh

The servant asked him, "What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?"

So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. He journeyed to the region of Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor.

I will say to a young woman, 'Please lower your jar so I may drink.' May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, 'Drink, and I'll give your camels water too.' In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master."

Abraham's servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug."

So Abraham's servant went to the house and unloaded the camels. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet.

"I am the servant of Abraham," he began.

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

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham's servant and his men.

Then Rebekah and her female servants mounted the camels and rode away with the man. So Abraham's servant took Rebekah and left.

and asked Abraham's servant, "Who is that man walking in the field toward us?" "That is my master," the servant replied. So she took her veil and covered herself.

The servant told Isaac everything that had happened.

This is the account of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.

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 descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

(Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)

(Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)

She replied, "Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her."

So Rachel gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with her.

Bilhah, Rachel's servant, became pregnant again and gave Jacob another son.

When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

Soon Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob a son.

Then Leah's servant Zilpah gave Jacob another son.

Then Leah said, "God has granted me a reward because I gave my servant to my husband as a wife." So she named him Issachar.

He commanded them, "This is what you must say to my lord Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant. With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.

He instructed the servant leading the first herd, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?'

then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"

You must also say, 'In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me."

When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he asked, "Who are these people with you?" Jacob replied, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, "Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon."

The servant in charge brought the men into Joseph's house. He gave them water, and they washed their feet. Then he gave food to their donkeys.

"Your servant our father is well," they replied. "He is still alive." They bowed down in humility.

He instructed the servant who was over his household, "Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack.

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, "Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil?

Then Judah approached him and said, "My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. Please do not get angry with your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh.

When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

"Then your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife gave me two sons.

"So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us -- his very life is bound up in his son's life.

When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.

Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.'

"So now, please let your servant remain as my lord's slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.

Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

But everyone's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it.

When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had exercised over the Egyptians, they feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor."

"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free without paying anything.

But if the servant should declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'

"If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do.

"If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished.

However, if the injured servant survives one or two days, the owner will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss.

"If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye.

If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

You may have the Sabbath produce of the land to eat -- you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,

And Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his choice young men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!"

My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.

With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully -- I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it.

If your fellow Hebrew -- whether male or female -- is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free.

However, if the servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you,

you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well).

You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.

So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.

After Moses the Lord's servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant:

"Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them.

Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do.

"Remember what Moses the Lord's servant commanded you. The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you.

until the Lord gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the Lord's servant assigned you east of the Jordan."

He answered, "Truly I am the commander of the Lord's army. Now I have arrived!" Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground and asked, "What does my master want to say to his servant?"

just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace.

All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord's servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.

They said to Joshua, "It was carefully reported to your subjects how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded.

Moses the Lord's servant passed on the Lord's commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.

Moses the Lord's servant and the Israelites defeated them and Moses the Lord's servant assigned their land to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

The other half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad received their allotted tribal lands beyond the Jordan, just as Moses, the Lord's servant, had assigned them.

I was forty years old when Moses, the Lord's servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy on the land and I brought back to him an honest report.

But the Levites will not have an allotted portion among you, for their inheritance is to serve the Lord. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their allotted land east of the Jordan which Moses the Lord's servant assigned them."

and told them: "You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord's servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you.

Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure, just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes in your own land which Moses the Lord's servant assigned to you east of the Jordan.

But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord's servant gave you. Love the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, obey his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and being!"

After all this Joshua son of Nun, the Lord's servant, died at the age of one hundred ten.

Joshua son of Nun, the Lord's servant, died at the age of one hundred ten.