Word study
Bow
8 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bow, bowed, bows, bowing. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “bow” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁחָה shâchâhbow downtranslated this way 83 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7812Verb · Translated: worship 38, bow 36, bowed 33, worshiped 23Full study and all 166 verses →
Genesis 18:2 And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Exodus 11:8 And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence.
- קֶשֶׁת qeshethbowtranslated this way 58 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H7198Noun · Translated: bow 45, bows 11, rainbow 3, arrow 2Full study and all 64 verses →
Genesis 27:3 Take your weapons — your quiver and bow — and go out into the field to hunt some game for me.
Joshua 24:12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.
- קָדַד qâdadbow downtranslated this way 14 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6915Verb · Translated: bowed 14Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 24:26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
- כָּרַע kârabow downtranslated this way 9 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H3766Verb · Translated: bow 5, collapsed 4, bowed 4, crouches 3Full study and all 32 verses →
1 Kings 19:18 Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel— all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
2 Chronicles 7:3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”
- סָגַד sâgadprostrate oneselftranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5456Verb · Translated: bows 2, bow 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 44:15 It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread. He also fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Isaiah 44:17 From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 3 times of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
Genesis 50:18 His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
Numbers 24:4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:
- שָׁחַח shâchachbow, be bowed down, crouchtranslated this way 3 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7817Verb · Translated: brought low 5, downcast 3, humbled 2, bow 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Psalm 35:14 I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.
Proverbs 14:19 The evil bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
- כָּפַף kâphaphbend, bend down, be bent, bowedtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3721Verb · Translated: bow 2, despondent 1, bowed 1, weighed 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Psalm 145:14 The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
Isaiah 58:5 Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
Greek words (New Testament)
- κάμπτω kámptōI bend, bowtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2578Verb · Translated: bow 3, bowed 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Romans 11:4 And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Ephesians 3:14 ... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
- προσκυνέω proskynéōI worshiptranslated this way 2 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G4352Verb · Translated: worship 30, worshiped 17, knelt 4, worshipers 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Mark 15:19 They kept striking His head with a staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him.
Revelation 3:9 As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.
- κλίνω klínōI rest, recline, make to yieldtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2827Verb · Translated: lay 2, neared its end 1, bowed 1, almost 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Luke 24:5 As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
- πρῶρα prōrathe prow of a shiptranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4408Noun · Translated: bow 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 27:30 Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.
Acts 27:41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was being broken up by the pounding of the waves.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about bow: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.