Luke 4:8

8 And Jesus answering him said, `Get thee behind me, Adversary, for it hath been written, Thou shalt bow before the Lord thy God, and Him only thou shalt 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, `To thee I will give all this authority, and their glory, because to me it hath been delivered, and to whomsoever I will, I do give it;

7 thou, then, if thou mayest bow before me -- all shall be thine.'

8 And Jesus answering him said, `Get thee behind me, Adversary, for it hath been written, Thou shalt bow before the Lord thy God, and Him only thou shalt serve.'

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, `If the Son thou art of God, cast thyself down hence,

10 for it hath been written -- To His messengers He will give charge concerning thee, to guard over thee,