Servant Passages in the Old Testament

The Servant in the Old Testament (A selection of passages):

Compiled by Fr. Jake Runyon using Bibleworks.

The Servant as:

• The People:
  

^NAB Genesis 26:24 The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

^NAB Leviticus 25:42 Since those whom I brought out of the land of Egypt are servants of mine, they shall not be sold as slaves to any man.

^NAB Deuteronomy 32:36 Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people; on his servants he shall have pity. When he sees their strength failing, and their protected and unprotected alike disappearing,

^NAB Psalm 34:23 The LORD redeems loyal servants; no one is condemned whose refuge is God.

^NAB 1 Kings 8:23 he said, "LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep your covenant of kindness with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart.

^NAB Psalm 90:13 Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!

^NAB Psalm 136:22 A heritage for Israel, God's servant, God's love endures forever.

• The Prophets:
  

^NAB 2 Kings 9:7 You shall destroy the house of Ahab your master; thus will I avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the other servants of the LORD shed by Jezebel,

^NAB 2 Kings 17:13 And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, "Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,"

^NAB Jeremiah 7:25 From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.

^NAB Jeremiah 26:5 and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them

^NAB Jeremiah 29:19 For they did not listen to my words, says the LORD, though I kept sending them my servants the prophets, only to have them go unheeded, says the LORD.

^NAB Jeremiah 35:15 I kept sending you all my servants the prophets, telling you to turn back, all of you, from your evil way; to reform your conduct, and not follow strange gods or serve them, if you would remain on the land which I gave you and your fathers; but you did not heed me or obey me.

^NAB Ezekiel 38:17 Thus says the Lord GOD: It is of you that I spoke in ancient times through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days that I would bring you against them.

^NAB Zechariah 1:6 But my words and my decrees, which I entrusted to my servants the prophets, did not these overtake your fathers? Then they repented and admitted: "The LORD of hosts has treated us according to our ways and deeds, just as he had determined he would."

^NAB Amos 3:7 Indeed, the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.

^NAB Daniel 9:10 and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.

• Specific People:
  

^NAB Exodus 32:13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.'"

^NAB Deuteronomy 9:27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Look not upon the stubbornness of this people nor upon their wickedness and sin,

^NAB Genesis 26:24 The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

^NAB Psalm 105:6 You descendants of Abraham his servant, offspring of Jacob the chosen one!

^NAB Genesis 24:14 if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master."

^NAB Ezekiel 28:25 Thus says the Lord GOD: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, then I will manifest my holiness through them in the sight of the nations. Then they shall live on their land which I gave to my servant Jacob;

^NAB Exodus 14:31 and beheld the great power that the LORD had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

^NAB Joshua 18:7 For the Levites have no share among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their heritage; while Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received the heritage east of the Jordan which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave them."

^NAB Joshua 24:29 After these events, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.

^NAB Numbers 14:24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me unreservedly, I will bring him into the land where he has just been, and his descendants shall possess it.

^NAB Job 1:8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?"

^NAB 2 Samuel 3:18 Now take action, for the LORD has said of David, 'By my servant David I will save my people Israel from the grasp of the Philistines and from the grasp of all their enemies.'"

^NAB 2 Samuel 7:5 "Go, tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?

^NAB 2 Chronicles 32:16 His officials said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah,

^NAB Isaiah 20:3 Then the LORD said: Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,

• Use in Isaiah:
  

Isa 20:3; 22:20; 24:2; 37:35; 41:8f; 42:1, 19; 44:1f, 21; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3, 5f; 52:13; 53:11; 63:11

^NAB Isaiah 20:3 Then the LORD said: Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia,

^NAB Isaiah 22:20 On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;

^NAB Isaiah 37:35 I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.

^NAB Isaiah 41:8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend--

⁹ You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and summoned from its far-off places, You whom I have called my servant, whom I have chosen and will not cast off--

^NAB Isaiah 44:1 Hear then, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.

² Thus says the LORD who made you, your help, who formed you from the womb: Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, the darling whom I have chosen.

²¹ Remember this, O Jacob, you, O Israel, who are my servant! I formed you to be a servant to me; O Israel, by me you shall never be forgotten:

^NAB Isaiah 45:4 For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not.

^NAB Isaiah 48:20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea! With shouts of joy proclaim this, make it known; Publish it to the ends of the earth, and say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.

^NAB Isaiah 63:11 Then they remembered the days of old and Moses, his servant; Where is he who brought up out of the sea the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put his holy spirit in their midst;

• Servant passages:
  

^NAB Isaiah 42:1-4 Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, ² Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. ³ A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, ⁴ Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

^NAB Isaiah 49:1-6 Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. ² He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. ³ You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. ⁴ Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. ⁵ For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! ⁶ It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Isaiah 50:4-9
⁴ The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; ⁵ And I have not rebelled, have not turned back. ⁶ I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. ⁷ The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. ⁸ He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me. ⁹ See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong? Lo, they will all wear out like cloth, the moth will eat them up.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
¹³ See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. ¹⁴ Even as many were amazed at him-- so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals-- ¹⁵ So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it. ^NAB Isaiah 53:1 Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ² He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. ³ He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. ⁴ Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. ⁶ We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. ⁷ Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. ⁸ Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, ⁹ A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. ¹⁰ (But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. ¹¹ Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. ¹² Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.