And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
- KJV 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.
- BSB But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
- NASB Jesus replied to him, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ ”
- NLT Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
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
Jesus refuses, citing Scripture that worship and service belong to God alone. He will worship no one but the Father.
Overview
Quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, Jesus rejects the devil's offer outright, affirming that God alone is to be worshiped and served. He will not exchange the Father's will for the devil's prize. His steadfast loyalty to God secures the obedience by which He saves His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 6:13You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.
- Deut 10:20You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him; and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.
- Matt 4:10Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
- Ps 83:18that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
- Rev 19:10I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”
- Rev 22:9He said to me, “See you don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
- Jas 4:7Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- 1 Sam 7:3Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
- Luke 4:4Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
- 1 Pet 5:9Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
- Isa 2:11The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
- Matt 16:23But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
- 2 Kgs 19:15Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
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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 4:8 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.