'Serve' in the Bible

“Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Then they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.

Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.

with whom the Lord made a covenant and commanded them, saying, “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them.

And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

“Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you.

He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; it will be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.

“But they, in their own kingdom,With Your great goodness which You gave them,With the broad and rich land which You set before them,Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.

‘Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,And what would we gain if we entreat Him?’

“If they hear and serve Him,They will end their days in prosperityAnd their years in pleasures.

“Will the wild ox consent to serve you,Or will he spend the night at your manger?

You have delivered me from the contentions of the people;You have placed me as head of the nations;A people whom I have not known serve me.

Posterity will serve Him;It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.

And let all kings bow down before him,All nations serve him.

Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,Who boast themselves of idols;Worship Him, all you gods.

Serve the Lord with gladness;Come before Him with joyful singing.

When the peoples are gathered together,And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,You who serve Him, doing His will.

A Song of Ascents.Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord,Who serve by night in the house of the Lord!

Now go, write it on a tablet before themAnd inscribe it on a scroll,That it may serve in the time to comeAs a witness forever.

“For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,And the nations will be utterly ruined.

“For long ago I broke your yokeAnd tore off your bonds;But you said, ‘I will not serve!’For on every high hillAnd under every green treeYou have lain down as a harlot.

It shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless.

So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.’

And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritanceThat I gave you;And I will make you serve your enemiesIn the land which you do not know;For you have kindled a fire in My angerWhich will burn forever.

and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’

This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him.

All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.

“It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.

But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

But the nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.”’”

I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you;

Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field.”’”

But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you.

because of their wickedness which they committed so as to provoke Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers.

“When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquetAnd make them drunk, that they may become jubilantAnd may sleep a perpetual sleepAnd not wake up,” declares the Lord.

“As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God, “Go, serve everyone his idols; but later you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols.

For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them and there I will seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things.

And they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.

Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions’ den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you.”

When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

“And to Him was given dominion,Glory and a kingdom,That all the peoples, nations and men of every languageMight serve Him.His dominion is an everlasting dominionWhich will not pass away;And His kingdom is oneWhich will not be destroyed.

Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’

“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips,That all of them may call on the name of the Lord,To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

And He *directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,Might serve Him without fear,

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”

Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?

So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.

‘And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?

But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets;

the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.

For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,

For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”

I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,

These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.

Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and preach these principles.

I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day,

who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.

There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;