1. serve, worship (a deity) — Aramaic verb meaning to serve, worship, or pay reverence to a deity, cognate with Akkadian 'palahu' (to fear, revere). Found exclusively in the Aramaic sections of Daniel and Ezra, denoting religious service to God or to idols. Used of the three companions who refuse to serve Nebuchadnezzar's gods (Dan 3:12,14,17,18,28), of Daniel's faithfulness in serving his God (Dan 6:16,20), of the eschatological vision where all peoples serve the Son of Man (Dan 7:14,27), and of temple servants in Ezra (Ezra 7:24 'servants of that house of God'). Multilingual glosses uniformly confirm a single semantic field: Arabic 'ya'buduna' (they worship), German 'dienen' (serve), Korean 'seomgida' (serve), Spanish 'servir'. All inflectional forms (participle ms/mp/mpc, imperfect 3mp) represent the same core Aramaic verbal sense of religious service and worship. 10×
AR["تَعْبُدُ-","تَعْبُدُونَ","نَعْبُدُ","نَعْبُدُهُ","وَ-خُدَّام","يَعْبُدُوا","يَعْبُدُونَ"]·ben["আর-সেবাকারীদের","সেবা-করছ","সেবা-করছ-","সেবা-করছি","সেবা-করছে","সেবা-করবে"]·DE["[ופלחי]","dienen","sie-werden-dienen"]·EN["and-servants-of","serve","serve-","serving","should-serve","they-would-serve","will-serve"]·FR["et-servir","servir"]·heb["ו-פלחי","יעבדו","עובד","עובדים"]·HI["और-न","या-सेवकों","सेवा-करता-है","सेवा-करते","सेवा-करते-हैं","सेवा-करने-वाले","सेवा-करें","सेवा-करेंगे"]·ID["akan-menyembah","beribadah","dan-para-pelayan","layani","mereka-beribadah","sembah"]·IT["e-servire","serviranno","servire","servono"]·jav["badhé-ngabekti","lan-pelayan","ngabdi","ngabekti-","sami-ngabdi","sami-ngabekti"]·KO["그들이-서기지","그리고-섬기는자들","서기는","서기지","섬기는-","섬길것이다"]·PT["e-servos-de","servem","serves-","servimos","servindo","servirão","servissem"]·RU["будут-служить","и-служителей","служат","служим","служите","служить","служишь-"]·ES["servimos","servirán","sirven","sirves","sirviendo","sirvieran","y-servidores-de"]·SW["abudu","na-watumishi","tunamwabudu","unamwabudu-","watamwabudu"]·TR["(sen)","hizmet-edecek","tapan","tapsınlar","tapıyorlar","tapıyorsunuz","tapıyoruz","ve-hizmetkarlar"]·urd["اور-خادموں","خدمت-کی","عبادت-کرتا-ہے","پوجا-کرتے-ہیں","پوجتے","پوجیں","پوجیں-گے"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [פְּלַח] vb. pay reverence to, serve (deity) (cf. Assyrian palâḫu, fear, revere (and BH יָרֵא, פָּחַד etc.); Egyptian Aramaic פלח worship Lzb 351; 𝔗 פְּלַח serve, Syriac ܦܠܰܚ; Palm. פלחא soldier);— Pe. 1. pay reverence to deity (usually ל acc.): Impf. 3 mpl. יִפְלְחוּן Dn 3:28; 7:14, 27; so Pt. act. פָּלַח 6:17, 21, pl. פָּֽלְחִין 3:12, 14, 18, and (acc. dei) v 17. 2. pl. cstr. as n. פָּֽלְחֵי בֵית אֱלָהָא Ezr 7:24 servants of the house of God (+ priests, Nethinim, etc.).