Greek verb · G1398
δουλεύω
douleuodool-yoo'-o
be a slave
25 uses in the Greek text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: douleúō
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's G1398is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 12 of 27New Testament books
- 13spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · G1398
to be a slave to (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary)
The King James renders it: be in bondage, (do) serve(-ice).
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
douleuo is rendered "be a slave". It stands 25 times in the Greek text, across twelve books.
- Seven of the uses stand in Romans, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Matthew 6:24No 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.
- The Greek text spells it thirteen different ways.
The first use
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.
Matthew 6:24δουλεύειν
The first use, in the order of the New Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Seven of the word's twenty-five uses are in Romans.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- to serve6
- serving4
- serve2
- being enslaved1
- do serve1
- have we been under bondage1
- he has served1
- I serve1
- rendering service1
- she is in slavery1
- they should serve1
- they will be in bondage1
and 4 more, 25 uses in all
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
All 25, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
13 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- δουλεύειν8
- δουλεύοντες3
- δουλεύετε2
- δουλεύω2
- δουλεύων2
- δεδουλεύκαμεν1
- δουλεύει1
- δουλευέτωσαν1
- δουλεύουσιν1
- δουλεύσει1
- δουλεύσουσιν1
- ἐδουλεύσατε1
and 1 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- verb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)8V-PAN
- verb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine plural3V-PAP-NPM
- verb · present active, indicative · 1st person singular2V-PAI-1S
- verb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singular2V-PAP-NSM
- verb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person plural1V-AAI-2P
- verb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-AAI-3S
- verb · future active, indicative · 3rd person plural1V-FAI-3P
- verb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-FAI-3S
- verb · present active, indicative · 2nd person plural1V-PAI-2P
- verb · present active, indicative · 3rd person plural1V-PAI-3P
- verb · present active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-PAI-3S
- verb · present active, command · 2nd person plural1V-PAM-2P
Matthew
two uses
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.
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
Luke
three uses
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.
- δουλεύωdouleuoverb · present active, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I 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.”
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
John
one use
“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”
- δεδουλεύκαμενdedouleukamenverb · perfect active, indicative · 1st person pluraltagged: have we been under bondage
Acts
two uses
‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’
- δουλεύσουσινdouleusousinverb · future active, indicative · 3rd person pluraltagged: they will be in bondage
I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.
- δουλεύωνdouleuonverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: serving
Romans
seven uses
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.
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: being enslaved
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.
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to 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.
- δουλεύωdouleuoverb · present active, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: serve
not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
- δουλεύσειdouleuseiverb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: will serve
Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
- δουλεύοντεςdouleuontesverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: serving
For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
- δουλεύωνdouleuonverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: serving
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.
- δουλεύουσινdouleuousinverb · present active, indicative · 3rd person pluraltagged: serve
Galatians
four uses
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
- ἐδουλεύσατεedouleusateverb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person pluraltagged: you were 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?
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to be enslaved
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
- δουλεύειdouleueiverb · present active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: she is in slavery
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.
- δουλεύετεdouleueteverb · present active, command · 2nd person pluraltagged: do serve
Ephesians
one use
Serve with good will, as to the Lord and not to men,
- δουλεύοντεςdouleuontesverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: rendering service
Philippians
one use
But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.
- ἐδούλευσενedouleusenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: he has served
Colossians
one use
because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
- δουλεύετεdouleueteverb · present active, indicative · 2nd person pluraltagged: you serve
1 Thessalonians
one use
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
- δουλεύεινdouleueinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
1 Timothy
one use
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.
- δουλευέτωσανdouleuetosanverb · present active, command · 3rd person pluraltagged: they should serve
Titus
one use
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.
- δουλεύοντεςdouleuontesverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: serving
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.
