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TR: shachah → proskynéō (Bow Down / Worship)

The Chain

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)              Greek NT
──────────────         ──────────────────           ────────────────────
שָׁחָה (shachah)   →   προσκυνέω (proskynéō)   →   προσκυνέω (proskynéō)
H7812, 166 verses      primary LXX translation      54 verses in NT
"prostrate, bow down"  155 alignments, PMI 6.94     "worship, do homage"

OT Usage (Hebrew shachah)

Strong's Word Occurrences Primary Meaning
H7812 שָׁחָה (shachah) 166 prostrate oneself — before rulers, God, or divine messengers

Key OT passages:

  • Gen 18:2 — Abraham saw the three visitors and "ran to meet them... and bowed himself toward the ground" (social prostration before guests of apparent dignity)
  • Gen 22:5 — "I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you" — the first use clearly meaning intentional worship (at Moriah)
  • Exod 4:31 — "the people believed... and they bowed their heads and worshipped" — Israel's response to the promise of deliverance
  • Deut 5:9 — "Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them" — the worship prohibition as the definitive use

H7812 ranges widely in OT: social prostration before kings and superiors (2 Sam 9:6; 1 Kgs 1:16), prostration before divine messengers (Josh 5:14; Num 22:31), and worship of God (1 Sam 1:3, 1:19; Ps 22:27; 96:9; 99:5).

(No canonical word study exists for H7812 yet — TODO)

LXX Bridge

Hebrew Greek Translation Count PMI Notes
שָׁחָה (H7812) προσκυνέω (G4352) 155 6.94 Dominant, near-exclusive LXX equivalent
קָדַד (H6915) προσκυνέω (G4352) 15 7.04 "bow the head" — paired action
סָגַד (H5456) προσκυνέω (G4352) 4 7.04 "prostrate in homage" (Dan 3)

Semantic shift in translation: Minimal. The LXX translators consistently chose proskynéō as the Greek equivalent, preserving the physical-act-of-prostration sense. The word enters Greek NT use already loaded with OT meaning — readers of the LXX would have recognized proskynéō from Psalms, the Deuteronomy worship commands, and the idolatry warnings of the prophets.

NT Usage (Greek proskynéō)

Strong's Word Occurrences Primary Meaning
G4352 προσκυνέω (proskynéō) 54 worship, prostrate in homage
G4353 προσκυνητής (proskynētēs) 1 worshipper (John 4:23 only)

Key NT passages:

  • Mat 4:10 — "Thou shalt worship (proskynéō) the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" — direct quotation of Deut 6:13 (shachah → proskynéō)
  • John 4:23-24 — "the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth... they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth"
  • Rev 4:10 — "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever"
  • Rev 19:10 — angel refuses John's prostration: "See thou do it not... worship God" — proskynéō is now restricted to God alone

Canonical word study: G4352-proskyneo.md

Direct OT → NT Quotations

NT Verse Quotes OT Shared Word Significance
Mat 4:10 / Luke 4:8 Deut 6:13 shachah → proskynéō Exclusive worship command — Jesus quotes LXX verbatim against Satan
Heb 1:6 Deut 32:43 or Ps 97:7 shachah → proskynéō Angels commanded to worship the firstborn Son
Rev 15:4 Ps 86:9 shachah → proskynéō "All nations shall come and worship before thee" — eschatological fulfillment

Continuity and Shifts

What stays the same: - The physical act (prostration, bowing) remains the primary image throughout OT, LXX, and NT - The exclusive worship command (only to God/YHWH) carries directly from Deuteronomy into Jesus' response to Satan and Revelation's anti-beast warnings - Paired with speech ("fell down and said...") in both OT narratives and NT accounts

What shifts: - In OT, shachah freely describes prostration before kings, commanders, and superiors (social use); in NT, proskynéō is used for humans only in narrative-context petitioning of Jesus — and Revelation 19:10/22:9 explicitly corrects even prostration before angels - Jesus becomes the new object of worship alongside the Father — without replacement of the OT monotheistic framework; the NT never calls this idolatry - John 4's "spirit and truth" discourse detaches worship from sacred geography entirely - Revelation introduces a stark eschatological binary: worship God (throne) vs. worship the beast (mark) — the shachah/proskynéō vocabulary frames the ultimate conflict

Generated from: gather_word_data.py (H7812, G4352), search_strongs.py --hebrew-source Last updated: 2026-04-01