StrongerBible

proskuneō

προσκυνέω

GreekG4352“worship, bow down, ...”

Appears 60 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 2:2Mat 2:8Mat 2:11Mat 4:9Mat 4:10Mat 8:2Mat 9:18Mat 14:33Mat 15:25Mat 18:26Mat 20:20Mat 28:9Mat 28:17Mrk 5:6Mrk 15:19Luk 4:7Luk 4:8Luk 24:52Jhn 4:20 (2×)Jhn 4:21Jhn 4:22 (2×)Jhn 4:23 (2×)Jhn 4:24 (2×)Jhn 9:38Jhn 12:20Act 7:43Act 8:27Act 10:25Act 24:111Co 14:25Heb 1:6Heb 11:21Rev 3:9Rev 4:10Rev 5:14Rev 7:11Rev 9:20Rev 11:1Rev 11:16Rev 13:4 (2×)Rev 13:8Rev 13:12Rev 13:15Rev 14:7Rev 14:9Rev 14:11Rev 15:4Rev 16:2Rev 19:4Rev 19:10 (2×)
Compound of
prosπρόςto/with735G4314
kuōnκύωνdog5G2965
Root family
Word studypros-koo-NEH-ohverb

What proskuneō means

to bow down before someone in reverent homage: to worship

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

The picture behind this word is physical: a person lowers the body, kneels, or falls face-down before another to show that the other is higher. The same gesture could be offered to a king, to a powerful person whose favor you needed, or to God, so the word covers a wide range, from a desperate request made at someone's feet all the way up to full worship of the living God. The body language is the constant; who receives it is what changes.

In the New Testament that range narrows around one urgent question: who is worthy to receive it. Toward God and the Lamb the gesture is right and commanded. Toward false gods, idols, the beast of Revelation, or Satan it is the central sin, devotion stolen from the one to whom it belongs. And when people fall at the feet of Jesus in the Gospels, the gesture sits exactly on the seam between deep respect and true worship, which is part of why the Gospel writers use the word so deliberately.

The senses below sort the occurrences by who is on the receiving end, because that is what decides whether the act is faithful, sinful, or simply the courtesy of bowing before a person.

Nuances

1ato worship God, the Lord, or the risen Christ as the one truly worthy of it
Mat 2:2Mat 2:8Mat 2:11Mat 4:10Mat 14:33Mat 28:9Mat 28:17Luk 4:8Luk 24:52Jhn 4:20 (2×)Jhn 4:21Jhn 4:22 (2×)
1bto direct worship to the wrong object: an idol, a demon, Satan, the beast and its image, or even an angel who refuses it
Mat 4:9Luk 4:7Act 7:43Rev 9:20Rev 13:4 (2×)Rev 13:8Rev 13:12Rev 13:15Rev 14:9Rev 14:11Rev 16:2Rev 22:8
1cto bow low before a person as a suppliant or in homage, without claiming divine worship
Mat 8:2Mat 9:18Mat 15:25Mat 18:26Mat 20:20Mrk 5:6Mrk 15:19Act 10:25Rev 3:9

What scholars say about proskuneō

The lexica (BDAG, LSJ) trace the term to a gesture of prostration, possibly the act of kissing the ground or the hand toward a superior, and define it as expressing homage by attitude or posture toward a person or deity. Greeven (TDNT 6:758-66) surveys the move from civil obeisance in classical and Hellenistic usage to its concentration on worship in the Septuagint, where it standardly renders Hebrew shachah (H7812) and overwhelmingly takes God as its object. EDNT and NIDNTT note the New Testament's distinctive concentration in Matthew, John 4, and Revelation, and the Christological significance of the word being directed to Jesus and to the Lamb alongside its absolute prohibition toward any other figure (Revelation 19:10; 22:9). The verb governs both the dative and the accusative; commentators discuss whether early Gospel uses toward Jesus connote full worship or the lesser homage due a teacher or royal figure, a question sharpened by the resurrection scenes.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. προσκυνέωlexicon
  • H. Greeven, "προσκυνέω," TDNT 6:758-66theological-dictionary
  • EDNT, s.v. προσκυνέωtheological-dictionary
  • LSJ, s.v. προσκυνέωlexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of προσκυνέω

aorist active indicative 3p

προσεκύνησαν

Mat 2:11, Mat 14:33, Mat 28:9, Mat 28:17, Jhn 4:20, Rev 5:14, Rev 7:11, Rev 11:16

future active indicative 3p

προσκυνήσουσιν

Jhn 4:23, Rev 3:9, Rev 4:10, Rev 9:20, Rev 13:8, Rev 13:12, Rev 15:4

present active participle accusative m p

προσκυνοῦντας

Jhn 4:23, Jhn 4:24, Rev 11:1, Rev 16:2, Rev 19:20

aorist active indicative 3s

προσεκύνησεν

Mrk 5:6, Jhn 9:38, Act 10:25, Heb 11:21

imperfect active indicative 3s

προσεκύνει

Mat 8:2, Mat 9:18, Mat 15:25, Mat 18:26

aorist active infinitive

προσκυνῆσαι

Mat 2:2, Rev 19:10, Rev 22:8

present active infinitive

προσκυνεῖν

Jhn 4:20, Jhn 4:24, Act 7:43

aorist active imperative 2s

προσκύνησον

Rev 19:10, Rev 22:9

aorist active subjunctive 2s

προσκυνήσῃς

Mat 4:9, Luk 4:7

aorist active subjunctive 3p

προσκυνήσωσιν

Jhn 12:20, Rev 13:15

future active indicative 2s

προσκυνήσεις

Mat 4:10, Luk 4:8

future active participle nominative m s

προσκυνήσων

Act 8:27, Act 24:11

aorist active imperative 2p

προσκυνήσατε

Rev 14:7

aorist active imperative 3p

προσκυνησάτωσαν

Heb 1:6

aorist active participle nominative m p

προσκυνήσαντες

Luk 24:52

aorist active subjunctive 1s

προσκυνήσω

Mat 2:8

future active indicative 2p

προσκυνήσετε

Jhn 4:21

future active indicative 3s

προσκυνήσει

1Co 14:25

imperfect active indicative 3p

προσεκύνουν

Mrk 15:19

present active indicative 1p

προσκυνοῦμεν

Jhn 4:22

present active indicative 2p

προσκυνεῖτε

Jhn 4:22

present active indicative 3s

προσκυνεῖ

Rev 14:9

present active participle nominative f s

προσκυνοῦσα

Mat 20:20

present active participle nominative m p

προσκυνοῦντες

Rev 14:11