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dū´ti (דּבר, daÌ„bhaÌ„r; ὀφειÌλω, opheıÌloÌ„): The word duty occurs only three times in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it is the translation of daÌ„bhaÌ„r, which, meaning originally “speech,†or “word,†came to denote any particular “matter†that had to be attended to. In the two places where it is rendered “duty†(; ) the reference is to the performance of the Temple services - praise and sacrifice - and it is probably from these passages that the phrase “taking duty†in church services is derived. In other passages we have different words employed to denote the priests' dues: the King James Version , , hÌ£oÌ„kÌ£ (“statutory portionâ€); , mishpaÌ„tÌ£ (“judgmentâ€). In , we have a reference to duty in the moral sense, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,†ba‛al (i.e. as in the King James Version margin, “from the owners thereofâ€). In we have the “duty of marriage†(‛oÌ„naÌ„h), that which was due to the wife.
In the New Testament “duty†is expressed by opheiloÌ„, “to owe,†“to be due.†In , we have “Say, ... we have done that which it was our duty to do,†and in the King James Version, it is said of the Gentiles with reference to the Jewish Christians, “Their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things,†the American Standard Revised Version “they owe it.†In we have “till he should pay all that was due†‛opheiloÌ„, “owingâ€), and in the King James Version, “Render unto the wife due opheileÌ„Ì benevolence,†the American Standard Revised Version “her due.†See also ETHICS.