Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
doulos
Slave. English versions mostly print servant, and the two are not the same relationship.
Romans 1:1, in every translation this tool compares.
He works for her. He belongs to her household. One is employment and one is belonging, and English only really has the first.
Because Paul opens several letters by calling himself one, and servant makes it a job while the Greek makes it ownership. The softer word is the majority rendering and it is the weaker one.
The King James, NIV and ESV mostly read servant. The CSB and NET read slave. The HCSB shifted toward slave and drew argument for it.
δοῦλος doulos · G1401
Doulos is a slave, owned property, and Greek had separate words for a hired worker. The word is used of Paul, of Christ at Philippians 2:7, and of believers generally.
English servant implies wages and the option of leaving. Slave carries the American chattel system with it, which is a different institution from the ancient one and is why translators hesitate.
When translators avoid the plain rendering of a word, ask what they were protecting the reader from. Sometimes the protection costs more than it saves.
Servant is the majority rendering in English versions. Slave is the more literal one and is gaining ground in recent translations.
- doulos of Paul: Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1
- doulos of Christ: Philippians 2:7
- misthios, a hired worker, is the contrasting word: Luke 15:17
