Word

προσκυνέω

proskynéō · G4352 · Greek · 60 occurrences

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Meanings

to prostrate oneself in worship, to bow down and worship, to worship

To express by attitude and possibly by position one’s allegiance to and regard for deity

Examples
Matthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Matthew 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”
Matthew 2:11 And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
to prostrate oneself before

To prostrate oneself before someone as an act of reverence, fear, or supplication

Examples
Matthew 8:2 And a man with leprosy came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Matthew 9:18 While He was saying these things to them, behold, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will become alive again.”
Matthew 15:25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

How it’s used In 8 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

60 occurrences in 24 groups

Not stated: they 16
Not stated (participle) 9
Not stated: you (one person) 5
Not stated (infinitive) 5
Not stated: he, she or it 4
Other words · 19 groups that occur once or twice (21) 21

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

43 occurrences in 13 groups

αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 18
εἰκώνlikeness 6
θεόςGod 6
θηρίονbeast, wild animal 5
Other words · 9 groups that occur once or twice (12) 12

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

12 occurrences in 11 groups

Other words · 11 groups that occur once or twice (14) 14

With adverbsAdverbs

5 occurrences in 4 groups

μήnot 2
ὅπουwhere, wherever, in which 1
οὐnot 1
οὕτωso, thus, in this way 1

Named alongside itApposition

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ἄνθρωποςman, person, people 1

What it doesIt is the subject

5 occurrences in 4 groups

δέωto bind, to tie 2
ἔχωto have 1
προσκυνέωto worship, to bow down 1
ἀποκτείνωto kill 1

What is done to itIt is the object

7 occurrences in 4 groups

λέγωto say 3
γράφωto write 2
μετρέωto measure 1
πλανάωto deceive, to lead astray 1

Second object ofSecond object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

ζητέωto seek, to look for 1

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 1 word

σεβάζομαι sebázomai · G4573 · to worship, to venerate: προσκυνέω and σεβάζομαι both belong to the vocabulary of religious worship. προσκυνέω specifically encodes the physical act of prostration in homage, while σεβάζομαι emphasizes the inward attitude of veneration without necessarily implying that physical posture; both converge on the concept of worship, differentiated by whether physical prostration is in view.

In the other Testament 2 words

שָׁחָה shâchâh · H7812 · to tell, to inform, to impart: שָׁחָה (shâchâh, H7812) is the standard Hebrew verb for prostration in worship or homage, directly equivalent to προσκυνέω (proskynéō, G4352) in the LXX translation tradition, both denoting physical bowing/prostration before deity or authority with the associated posture of reverence.
סְגִד çᵉgid · H5457 · worship: Aramaic סְגִד directly corresponds to Greek προσκυνέω in denoting the physical and religious act of worship/prostration, as evidenced in Daniel's Aramaic sections where both terms render the same cultic homage concept.

Semantic domains 2 entries

To prostrate oneself before17.21: The verb describes physically falling down before another in a posture of reverence. Matthew's account of the magi uses this term: “And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).
To prostrate oneself in worship, to bow down and worship, to worship53.56: The same verb describes rendering religious homage to a deity. Jesus' rebuke of the tempter uses this term: “Then Jesus said to him, 'Go away, Satan! For it is written: “YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY”'” (Matthew 4:10).

Word family 5 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

κύων kýōn · G2965 · dog, bad person · 5×προσκυνέωproskynéō · G4352κυνάριον kynárion · G2952 · house dog, little dog · 4×προσκυνητής proskynētḗs · G4353 · worshiper · 1×σκύβαλον skýbalon · G4657 · rubbish, litter, trash · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon προσκύνω; imperfect προσεκύνουν; future προσκυνήσω; 1 aorist προσεκύνησα; from Aeschylus…

προσκύνω; imperfect προσεκύνουν; future προσκυνήσω; 1 aorist προσεκύνησα; from Aeschylus and Herodotus down; the Sept. very often for הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (to prostrate oneself); properly, to kiss the hand to (toward) one, in token of reverence: Herodotus 1, 134; (cf. K. F. Hermann, Gottesdienstl. Alterthümer d. Griech. § 21; especially Hoelemann, Die Biblical Gestalt. d. Anbetung in his 'Bibelstudien' i., 106ff); hence, among the Orientals, especially the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence ("to make a 'salam'"); Latinveneror (Nepos, Conon. 3, 3),adoro (Pliny, h. n. 28, 5, 25; Suetonius, Vitell. 2); hence, in the N. T. by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication. It is used a. of homage shown to men of superior rank: absolutely, Mt 20:20 (the Jewish high-priests are spoken of in Josephus, b. j. 4, 5, 2 as προσκυνούμενοι); πεσών ἐπί τούς πόδας προσεκύνησεν, Acts 10:25; τίνι (according to the usage of later writings; cf. Winers Grammar, 36, 210 (197); (Buttmann, § 131, 4); Lob. ad Phryn., p. 463), Mt 2:2, Mt 2:8; Mt 8:2; Mt 9:18; Mt 14:33; Mt 15:25; (); Mt 28:9, Mt 28:17 (R G); Mk 5:6 (here WH Tr marginal reading have the accusative); ; Jn 9:38; with πεσών preceding, Mt 2:11; Mt 4:9; ἐνώπιον τῶν ποδῶν τίνος, Rev 3:9; (it may perhaps be mentioned that some would bring in here Heb 11:21 προσεκύνησεν ἐπί τό ἄκρον τῆς ῤάβδου αὐτοῦ, explaining it by the (Egyptian) custom of bowing upon the magistrate's staff of office in taking an oath; cf. Chabas, Melanges Egypt. III. i., p. 80, cf. p. 91f; but see below).
b. of homage rendered to God and the ascended Christ, to heavenly beings, and to demons: absolutely (our to worship) (cf. Winer's Grammar, 593 (552)), Jn 4:20; Jn 12:20; Acts 8:27; Acts 24:11; Heb 11:21 (cf. above); Rev 11:1; πίπτειν καί προσκυνεῖν, Rev 5:14; τίνι, Jn 4:21, Jn 4:23; Acts 7:43; Heb 1:6; Rev 4:10; Rev 7:11; Rev 11:16; Rev 14:7; Rev 16:2; Rev 19:4, Rev 19:20; Rev 22:8; Rev 13:4 G L T Tr WH (twice (the 2nd time WH text only)); G T Tr WH text; Rev 20:4 Rec.; πεσών ἐπί πρόσωπον προσκυνήσει τῷ Θεῷ, 1 Cor 14:25; πίπτειν ἐπί τά πρόσωπα καί προσκυνεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, Rev 11:16; preceded by πίπτειν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ποδῶν τίνος, Rev 19:10. in accordance with the usage of the older and better writings with τινα or τί (cf. Matthiae, § 412): Mt 4:10; Lk 4:8; Rev 9:20; Rev 13:12; Rev 14:9, Rev 14:11; also Rev 13:4 (Rec. twice; (WH marginal reading once)), 8 (where Rec. dative), 15 R L WH marginal reading; 20:4a (where Rec. dative), 4b (where Relz dative); Lk 24:52 R G L Tr brackets WH reject; (the Sept. also connects the word far more frequent with the dative than with the accusative (cf. Hoelemann as above, p. 116ff)); ἐνώπιον τίνος, Lk 4:7; Rev 15:4.

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 2 entries

Prostrate as an Act of Reverence or Supplication10 occurrences Worship, Reverence50 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0