δουλεύω

Matthew 6:24 δουλεύειν· δουλεύειν to serve;, to serve

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Here: To belong to someone and be at their disposal: your time, labour and loyalty are theirs. This is much stronger than 'serve' in the sense of helping or working for.

Luke 15:29 δουλεύω I serve

But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

Here: 'I am slaving for you.' This is the language of a slave's work, not a son's. The present tense with 'so many years' means 'I have been slaving and still am'. He describes life in his father's house as forced labour.

Luke 16:13 δουλεύειν· δουλεύειν to serve;, to serve

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Here: To perform a slave's service: belonging to someone, not just doing a task for them. The word that sits underneath 'serve' is slavery.

John 8:33 δεδουλεύκαμεν have we been under bondage

“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”

Acts 7:7 δουλεύσουσιν, they will be in bondage,

‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’

Acts 20:19 δουλεύων serving

I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.

Here: "Serving as a slave." It is a present participle, so it describes ongoing action. It hangs on "how I was with you" in v.18 and spells out how Paul lived among them the whole time: as a slave whose time and work belonged to his master.

Romans 6:6 δουλεύειν being enslaved

We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Here: 'To be slaving'. The present tense pictures ongoing slave service. This is the language of chattel slavery, not of voluntary 'service'. Paul develops the image through 6:16–22.

Romans 7:6 δουλεύειν to serve

But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Here: Slave-service, carried over from Romans 6 ("slaves of righteousness", "slaves to God", 6:18, 22). The present tense means ongoing service. The release changes masters. It does not end service.

Romans 7:25 δουλεύω serve

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Here: 'I am a slave to'. The present tense describes an ongoing condition, and the one verb covers both halves of the sentence: the same I is in bondage two ways at once.

Romans 9:12 δουλεύσει will serve

not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

Romans 12:11 δουλεύοντες, serving,

Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Here: To work as a doulos, a slave. It means belonging to someone and working for them, not helping out when it suits. This is the climax of the three lines. The eagerness and the heat are a slave's service to his Master.

Romans 14:18 δουλεύων serving

For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Here: The present participle means 'the one who keeps on serving as a slave.' It is the language of belonging to a master, picking up verses 4–9, where every believer is the Lord's household servant, whether living or dying.

Romans 16:18 δουλεύουσιν serve

For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Here: The present tense means they are habitually serving, as a slave serves an owner. The image is of two possible owners, and these people belong to the wrong one.

Galatians 4:8 ἐδουλεύσατε you were enslaved

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

Here: 'You served as slaves.' The word carries two ideas at once: slavery, which is the theme of 4:1–9 (slave vs. son), and religious service, since 'serving' gods meant worshipping them. Their old worship was a kind of bondage. The aorist tense sums up their whole pagan past as one completed stretch of time.

Galatians 4:9 δουλεύειν to be enslaved

But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

Here: 'To serve as slaves'. It repeats 'you were slaves' from verse 8 and stands against the sonship of verses 5–7.

Galatians 4:25 δουλεύει she is in slavery

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

Galatians 5:13 δουλεύετε do serve

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

Here: Present imperative, meaning keep on doing it as an ongoing way of life. The word is deliberately shocking: people who have just been freed are told to be slaves, but to each other and through love.

Ephesians 6:7 δουλεύοντες rendering service

Serve with good will, as to the Lord and not to men,

Philippians 2:22 ἐδούλευσεν he has served

But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.

Colossians 3:24 δουλεύετε. you serve.

because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Here: This is the verb for working as a slave, the same root as douloi, 'slaves', in 3:22. The form can be read either as 'you are slaving for' (a statement) or as 'slave for!' (a command).

1 Thessalonians 1:9 δουλεύειν to serve

For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

Here: States the purpose of the turn: to belong to God and serve him as a slave serves a master. The present tense describes a continuing way of life, not a single act.

1 Timothy 6:2 δουλευέτωσαν, they should serve [them],

Those who have believing masters should not show disrespect because they are brothers, but should serve them all the more, since those receiving their good service are beloved believers. Teach and encourage these principles.

Here: 'Let them go on serving as slaves.' The verb comes from doulos, 'slave'. It means the work of an owned person, not hired or voluntary service.

Titus 3:3 δουλεύοντες serving

For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Here: Working as a slave works for a master. Desires and pleasures are pictured as owners who give the orders. The writer calls himself God's slave in 1:1.