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Thursday, July 31st, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

New Life Version

Ephesians 6:7

Be happy as you work. Do your work as for the Lord, not for men.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Judgment;   Obedience;   Servant;   Sincerity;   Thompson Chain Reference - Serve God;   Service;   Stewardship;   Stewardship-Ownership;   Work, Religious;   Work-Workers, Religious;   The Topic Concordance - Deeds;   Goodness;   Masters;   Obedience;   Servants;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Conduct, Christian;   Servants;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Servant;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ethics;   Justice;   Servant;   Slave;   Work;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Motives;   Work;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Image;   Love, Brotherly;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Colosse;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Black People and Biblical Perspectives;   Ephesians, Book of;   Service;   Slave/servant;   Work, Theology of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Slave, Slavery;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Commandment;   Ephesians Epistle to the;   Family;   Goodness (Human);   Labour;   Onesimus ;   Pre-Eminence ;   Socialism;   Worldliness;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ephesians, Epistle to the;   Service;   Slave;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for July 10;   Every Day Light - Devotion for April 13;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people,
King James Version (1611)
With good will doing seruice, as to the Lord, and not to men,
King James Version
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
English Standard Version
rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
New American Standard Bible
With goodwill render service, as to the Lord, and not to people,
New Century Version
Do your work with enthusiasm. Work as if you were serving the Lord, not as if you were serving only men and women.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men,
Legacy Standard Bible
serving with good will as to the Lord, and not to men,
Berean Standard Bible
Serve with good will, as to the Lord and not to men,
Contemporary English Version
Gladly serve your masters, as though they were the Lord himself, and not simply people.
Complete Jewish Bible
Work willingly as slaves, as people do who are serving not merely human beings but the Lord.
Darby Translation
serving with good will as to the Lord, and not to men;
Easy-to-Read Version
Do your work, and be happy to do it. Work as though it is the Lord you are serving, not just an earthly master.
Geneva Bible (1587)
With good will, seruing the Lord, and not men.
George Lamsa Translation
And serve well with your whole soul, with love, as to our LORD, and not to men:
Good News Translation
Do your work as slaves cheerfully, as though you served the Lord, and not merely human beings.
Lexham English Bible
serving with goodwill as to the Lord and not to people,
Literal Translation
serving as slaves with good will to the Lord, and not as to men,
Amplified Bible
rendering service with goodwill, as to the Lord, and not [only] to men,
American Standard Version
with good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not unto men:
Bible in Basic English
Doing your work readily, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Hebrew Names Version
with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;
International Standard Version
Serve willingly, as if you were serving the Lord and not merely people.as to the Lord and not people">[fn]
Etheridge Translation
And serve them from all your soul, in love, as unto our Lord, and not as unto men;
Murdock Translation
And serve them with your whole heart, in love, as if serving our Lord and not men;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Doyng the wyll of God fro the heart, with good wyll seruyng the Lorde, and not men:
English Revised Version
with good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not unto men:
World English Bible
with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
With good will doing service as unto the Lord, and not to men:
Weymouth's New Testament
With right good will, be faithful to your duty as service rendered to the Lord and not to man.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
with good wille seruynge as to the Lord, and not as to men;
Update Bible Version
with good will serving as slaves, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Webster's Bible Translation
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
New English Translation
Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord and not people,
New King James Version
with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,
New Living Translation
Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
New Revised Standard
Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
with good will, rendering service - as unto the Lord, and not unto men;
Douay-Rheims Bible
With a good will serving, as to the Lord, and not to men.
Revised Standard Version
rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men,
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
with good will servinge ye Lorde and not men.
Young's Literal Translation
with good-will serving, as to the Lord, and not to men,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
with good wyll. Thynke that ye serue the LORDE and not me:
Mace New Testament (1729)
serve them with affection, as if it was to the Lord,
Simplified Cowboy Version
Work hard, just as if it were Jesus standing there telling you what to do.

Contextual Overview

1 Children, as Christians, obey your parents. This is the right thing to do. 2 Respect your father and mother. This is the first Law given that had a promise. 3 The promise is this: If you respect your father and mother, you will live a long time and your life will be full of many good things. 4 Fathers, do not be too hard on your children so they will become angry. Teach them in their growing years with Christian teaching. 5 You servants who are owned by someone must obey your owners. Work for them as hard as you can. Work for them the same as if you were working for Christ. 6 Do not work hard only when your owner sees you. You would be doing this just to please men. Work as you would work for Christ. Do what God wants you to do with all your heart. 7 Be happy as you work. Do your work as for the Lord, not for men. 8 Remember this, whatever good thing you do, the Lord will pay you for it. It is the same to the Lord if you are a servant owned by someone or if you work for pay. 9 Owners, do the right thing for those who work for you. Stop saying that you are going to be hard on them. Remember that your Owner and their Owner is in heaven. God does not respect one person more than another.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

good: Genesis 31:6, Genesis 31:38-40, 2 Kings 5:2, 2 Kings 5:3, 2 Kings 5:13

as: Ephesians 6:5, Ephesians 6:6, 1 Corinthians 10:31

Reciprocal: Acts 20:19 - Serving Colossians 3:23 - as 1 Peter 2:15 - so

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
When men became many in number on the earth, and daughters were born to them,
Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.
Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not stay in man forever, for he is flesh. But yet he will live for 120 years."
Genesis 6:4
Very large men were on the earth in those days, and later also, when the sons of God lived with the daughters of men, who gave birth to their children. These were the powerful men of long ago, men of much strength.
Genesis 6:20
Two of all the kinds of birds, and animals, and every thing that moves on the ground are to be with you to keep them alive.
Genesis 6:22
Noah did just what God told him to do.
Psalms 37:20
But the sinful will be lost forever. Those who hate the Lord will be like the beauty of the fields. They will be gone. Like smoke they will be gone.
Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the Lord makes life longer, but the years of the sinful will be cut off.
Proverbs 16:4
The Lord has made all things for His own plans, even the sinful for the day of trouble.
Hosea 4:3
The land is filled with sorrow. Everyone who lives on it wastes away, together with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky. Even the fish of the sea are taken away.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

With good will doing service,.... To their masters; not grudgingly, with an ill will; no otherwise, nor longer than when they are forced to it; but of a ready mind, and with a cheerful spirit, taking delight in their work, and reckoning it a pleasure to serve their masters; as an Israelite that is not sold, who does his work ברצונו, "with his good will", and according to his own mind b; doing what they do

as to the Lord, and not to men; not merely because it is the will of men, and they are commanded by them, and in order to please them, but because it is the will of the Lord, and is wellpleasing in his sight.

b Maimon. Hilchot Abadim, c. 1. sect. 7.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As to the Lord, and not to men - That is, he should regard his lot in life as having been ordered by Divine Providence for some wise and good purpose; and until he may be permitted to enjoy his liberty in a quiet and peaceable manner (notes, 1 Corinthians 7:21), he should perform his duties with fidelity, and feel that he was rendering acceptable service to God. This would reconcile him to much of the hardships of his lot. The feeling that “God” has ordered the circumstances of our lives, and that he has some wise and good ends to answer by it, makes us contented there; though we may feel that our fellowman may be doing us injustice. It was this principle that made the martyrs so patient under the wrongs done them by people; and this may make even a slave patient and submissive under the wrongs of a master. But let not a master think, because a pious slave shows this spirit, that, therefore, the slave feels that the master is right in withholding his freedom; nor let him suppose, because religion requires the slave to be submissive and obedient, that, therefore, it approves of what the master does. It does this no more than it sanctioned the conduct of Nero and Mary, because religion required the martyrs to be unresisting, and to allow themselves to be led to the stake. A conscientious slave may find happiness in submitting to God, and doing his will, just as a conscientious martyr may. But this does not sanction the wrong, either of the slave-owner or of the persecutor.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. With good will — μετ ευνοιας. With cheerfulness; do not take up your service as a cross, or bear it as a burden; but take it as coming in the order of God's providence, and a thing that is pleasing to him.


 
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