Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,
Parallel translations
- KJV And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
- BSB and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—
- NKJV And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
- NASB and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave;
- NLT and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
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.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 22:26But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.
- Mark 9:33–35He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”
- Matt 18:4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
- 2 Cor 4:5For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake;
- Acts 20:34–35You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.
- Rom 1:14I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.
- 1 Cor 9:19–23For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
- 2 Cor 12:15I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
- 2 Cor 11:5For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
- 2 Cor 11:23–27Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 20:27 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.