sebomai denotes worshipful devotion, whether describing people devoted to God or worship directed elsewhere.

The occurrences show worshipful devotion expressed both as a description of people associated with God and as worship directed toward a named recipient. Present middle participles identify devout people in Acts, while present middle finite forms and an infinitive occur where worship is said to be vain, directed to God, or directed to Artemis.

1. Worshipful devotion · dominant

   Present middle participles describe groups or individuals in contexts involving God: in Acts 13:43 the APB renders a group as “devout proselytes,” and in Acts 16:14 it describes Lydia as one “who worshiped God.” The same devotion is presented as an action in Acts 18:13, while Mark 7:7 and Matthew 15:9 qualify the worship as “in vain”; Acts 19:27 places it in the claim that Asia and the world worship Artemis.

   Acts 13:43Acts 16:14Acts 18:13Mark 7:7Matthew 15:9Acts 19:27

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB uses “devout,” “worshiped God,” “worship,” and “worshiper of God.” These are presentations of the surrounding clauses rather than definitions, and Mark 7:7 and Matthew 15:9 explicitly add that the worship is “in vain.”