Deuteronomy 6:13

6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name.

Deuteronomy 6:17

6:17 Keep his ¹  commandments very carefully, ²  as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe.

Joshua 24:15

24:15 If you have no desire ³  to worship ⁴  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ⁵  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁶  worshiped ⁷  beyond the Euphrates, ⁸  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁹  will worship ¹⁰  the Lord!”

Matthew 4:10

4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, ¹¹  Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” ¹² 

John 12:26

12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹³  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹⁴  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Romans 6:22

6:22 But now, freed ¹⁵  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ¹⁶  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

Colossians 3:22-24

3:22 Slaves, ¹⁷  obey your earthly ¹⁸  masters in every respect, not only when they are watching – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord. 3:23 Whatever you are doing, ¹⁹  work at it with enthusiasm, ²⁰  as to the Lord and not for people, ²¹  3:24 because you know that you will receive your ²²  inheritance ²³  from the Lord as the reward. Serve ²⁴  the Lord Christ.

Revelation 7:15

7:15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve ²⁵  him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. ²⁶ 

[6:17]  ¹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[6:17]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”

[24:15]  ³ tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”

[24:15]  ⁴ tn Or “to serve.”

[24:15]  ⁵ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[24:15]  ⁷ tn Or “served.”

[24:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

[24:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[24:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “will serve.”

[4:10]  ¹¹ tc The majority of later witnesses (C² D L Z 33 Ï) have “behind me” (ὀπίσω μου; opisw mou) after “Go away.” But since this is the wording in Matt 16:23, where the text is certain, scribes most likely added the words here to conform to the later passage. Further, the shorter reading has superior support (א B C*^vid K P W Δ 0233 Ë^1,13 565 579* 700 al). Thus, both externally and internally, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

[4:10]  ¹² sn A quotation from Deut 6:13. The word “only” is an interpretive expansion not found in either the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) text of the OT.

[12:26]  ¹³ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[6:22]  ¹⁵ tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”

[6:22]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “fruit.”

[3:22]  ¹⁷ tn On this word here and in 4:1, see the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[3:22]  ¹⁸ tn The prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) does not necessarily qualify the masters as earthly or human (as opposed to the Master in heaven, the Lord), but could also refer to the sphere in which “the service-relation holds true.” See BDAG 577 s.v. κύριος 1.b.

[3:23]  ¹⁹ tn The present progressive “are doing” was used in the translation of ποιῆτε (poihte) to bring out the idea that Paul is probably referring to what they already do for work.

[3:23]  ²⁰ tn Grk “from the soul.”

[3:23]  ²¹ tn Grk “men”; here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") is used in a generic sense and refers to people in general.

[3:24]  ²² tn The article τῆς (ths) has been translated as a possessive pronoun, “your” (ExSyn 215). It may also be functioning to indicate a well-known concept (inheritance as eternal life). See BDAG 548 s.v. κληρονομία 3: “common in Christian usage (corresp. to the LXX) (the possession of) transcendent salvation (as the inheritance of God’s children).”

[3:24]  ²³ tn The genitive τῆς κληρονομίας (th" klhronomia") is a genitive of apposition: The reward consists of the inheritance.

[3:24]  ²⁴ tn The form of the term δουλεύετε (douleuete) is ambiguous; it can be read as either indicative or imperative. In favor of the indicative: (1) it seems to explain better the first part of v. 24, esp. “from the Lord” which would then read as: “because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as a reward for it is the Lord you are serving.” The “for” is supplied to make the relation explicit (it is actually added in many mss – D¹ Ψ 075 Ï – but the best ms evidence is against its inclusion). (2) With the imperative, one might expect ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ (Jw" tw kuriw), as for example in Eph 6:7. In favor of the imperative: (1) an imperative resumes the ἐργάζεσθε (ergazesqe) in v. 23a and forms a chiasm with it; (2) an imperative makes more sense of the γάρ (gar) in v. 25a; (3) an imperative relates equally well to the preceding statement; (4) a parallel can be found in Rom 12:11 which uses an imperatival participle δουλεύοντες (douleuonte") with the dative τῷ κυρίῳ. For an elaboration of these points see M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 185-86.

[7:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “worship.” The word here is λατρεύω (latreuw).

[7:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “will spread his tent over them,” normally an idiom for taking up residence with someone, but when combined with the preposition ἐπί (epi, “over”) the idea is one of extending protection or shelter (BDAG 929 s.v. σκηνόω).