Luke 4:8

8 And Jesus answering him said, It is written, Thou shalt do homage to [the] Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.

Luke 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 4:8

Jesus answered and said unto him
The following words, with indignation at him, and detestation of his proposals:

get thee behind me, Satan;
which are omitted in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and in three ancient copies of Beza's, and in his most ancient one; but stand in other copies, and in the Arabic version.

For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve.
This passage stands in ( Deuteronomy 6:13 ) where the words are, "thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and thou shalt swear by his name": the last clause is not cited by Christ at all, swearing being only a species, or part of religious worship; and the other two clauses are somewhat different from the original text, as here cited, and may be accounted for: instead of "fear the Lord", it is "worship the Lord"; and the one well explains the other; the fear of God being often, in Scripture, put for the whole worship of God, both internal and external: and in the next clause, the word "only" is added by Christ, as expressing the true sense of it, and agreeably to other places of Scripture, particularly ( 1 Samuel 7:3 ) , (See Gill on Matthew 4:10).

Luke 4:8 In-Context

6 And the devil said to him, I will give thee all this power, and their glory; for it is given up to me, and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If therefore *thou* wilt do homage before me, all [of it] shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answering him said, It is written, Thou shalt do homage to [the] Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.
9 And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the edge of the temple, and said to him, If thou be Son of God, cast thyself down hence;
10 for it is written, He shall give charge to his angels concerning thee to keep thee;

Footnotes 1

The Darby Translation is in the public domain.