Bible Strands
Luke 4:8
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the devil, who has just offered him all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship (Luke 4:7). This is the second of three wilderness temptations.
The words — apokritheis (ἀποκριθεὶς), aorist participle of "answer," frames the reply as a settled counter rather than an open discussion.
The thread — The citation is Deuteronomy 6:13 (cf. 10:20); the parallel account is Matthew 4:10, where Jesus adds "Away from Me, Satan!"
Why it lands — It names the structure of the temptation: everything offered in exchange for a shift of allegiance. The reader is asked to see "serve Him only" as the boundary that makes the rest of life coherent, not a mere preference.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.
- Deuteronomy 10:20 You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.
- Matthew 4:10 “Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
- Psalms 83:18 May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Revelation 19:10 So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
- 1 Samuel 7:3 Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
- James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Revelation 22:9 But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
- Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
- Isaiah 2:11 The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.