So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’”
- KJV So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
- BSB So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
- NASB So you too, when you do all the things which were commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”
- NLT In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Disciples are to say, even after full obedience, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' Humility, not merit, marks true service.
Overview
Jesus drives home that obedience earns no claim on God; we remain humble, unprofitable servants. This guards against self-righteousness and pride. It points to the gospel truth that we are accepted not by our works but by God's grace in Christ, even as we gladly serve Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Cor 9:16–17For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don’t preach the Good News.
- Job 22:2–3“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
- 1 Pet 5:5–6Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- 1 Cor 15:9–10For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
- Job 35:6–7If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
- Rom 11:35“Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
- Isa 64:6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
- Prov 16:2–3All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but Yahweh weighs the motives.
- 1 Chr 29:14–16But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
- Rom 3:12They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
- Phil 3:8–9Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
- Matt 25:37–40“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?
- Isa 6:5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
- Matt 25:30Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Ps 16:2–3My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”
- Ps 35:6–7Let their way be dark and slippery, Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.
- Phlm 1:11who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 17:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.