To serve
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διακονέω (diakoneō) means to serve, attend, minister, provide for need, administer help, or in certain church settings serve in a recognized diaconal role. The verb ranges from practical provision and table service to gospel-shaped ministry.
Reader summary
Full entry for διακονέω (G1247) · Open the biblical lexicon
διακονέω (diakoneō) means to serve, attend, minister, provide for need, administer help, or in certain church settings serve in a recognized diaconal role. The verb ranges from practical provision and table service to gospel-shaped ministry.
The BSB source-word alignment has 37 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include serves (6), to serve (6), ministered (3), administer (2), to be served (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 4:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (8), Matthew (6), Mark (5), 1 Peter (3).
διακονέω (diakoneō) means to serve, attend, minister, provide for need, administer help, or in certain church settings serve in a recognized diaconal role. The verb ranges from practical provision and table service to gospel-shaped ministry. Women accompany Jesus and support His mission from their resources. Jesus defines His own messianic path as coming not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
Martha’s preparations show that genuine service can become distracted and resentful when burden, comparison, and listening are neglected. Acts distinguishes waiting on tables from apostolic ministry of the word without treating either need as unimportant; the congregation creates an accountable arrangement so neglected widows receive care. First Peter tells every believer to use received gifts in serving one another as a steward of God’s varied grace.
The verb does not make every act of labor voluntary, healthy, or just, and it does not mean every servant holds the office of deacon. Christlike service meets real need under God’s strength, truth, accountability, and love.
διακονέω describes practical provision, personal attendance, organized care, gifted ministry, and the Son of Man’s self-giving service. Its passages dignify necessary work while also exposing distraction, neglect, and distorted power.
Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means.
Luke names women whose material resources sustain Jesus’ itinerant mission. Their service is deliberate participation in gospel work, not incidental background labor to be erased from the story.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus answers ambition with His own mission. His service reaches its climax in the ransom-giving of His life, so the verse grounds leadership in the cross rather than offering a slogan for unlimited human availability.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”
The problem is not that serving a guest is worthless. Martha’s many preparations have pulled her away from attending to Jesus and have turned solitary burden into accusation against her sister and the Lord.
So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.
A real distribution failure requires structural action. The apostles protect their calling to prayer and the word while the church appoints trusted servants, showing differentiated responsibility rather than contempt for food or widows.
As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.
Service flows from a gift received and is exercised as stewardship for others. Grace varies its gifts across the body, so no one person owns the ministry or carries every need.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Active service to others' concrete needs, especially humble practical care, not abstract duty
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 37 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseI wait at table, serve
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 35 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 6 selected witnesses from 37 lexical occurrence verses.
διακονέω is built from this root:
Restoration results in active service within the kingdom. Luke 22:24–30
Defines kingdom greatness through humble service. Luke 8:1–3
Expresses active support in gospel mission. Mark 1:29–34
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Jesus transforms the meaning of greatness by placing His own service at the center. He does not use power to gather attendants around Himself; He gives His life as a ransom. That saving act is unique, yet it shapes the leadership and care of His people. Luke honors women who sustain the mission from their means, making material provision part of gospel partnership.
The same Gospel also shows Martha burdened by service that has become distracted, solitary, and accusatory. Acts responds to neglected widows not with praise for good intentions but with an accountable distribution and differentiated callings. First Peter completes the picture by calling every believer a steward of grace received for others. Service, then, is not a badge for indispensable people.
It is entrusted work within Christ’s body. Churches should name practical labor, share it fairly, compensate or support workers where appropriate, create channels for neglected people to be heard, and refuse to consume willing servants. Faithful ministry listens before acting, meets concrete need, uses God-given strength, welcomes varied gifts, and aims at God’s glory rather than the servant’s control or the institution’s convenience.
Mark.10.45
The verb’s object and setting identify the kind of service: attending a table, supplying resources, assisting a person, administering a gift, or exercising church ministry. The word family later contributes to the language of deacons, but verbal occurrence alone does not establish an office or rank.
Israel’s worship and community life depend on ordered service, care for widows and the poor, hospitality, and faithful stewardship. The prophets condemn worship that overlooks injustice. Jesus fulfills the servant pattern by giving His life, then forms a church where gifts serve others, leaders reject status competition, and practical provision belongs to gospel faithfulness.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
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Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain