Word study
Worship
6 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
In brief
The commonest words mean to bow down: Hebrew shahah and Greek proskyneō, bowing low before one who is greater. A second group means to serve: Hebrew avad and Greek latreuō, used of the service given to God. Between them they show worship as both reverence and service.
Written and reviewed by our editorial team.
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: worship, worshiped, worshiping, worships. 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 “worship” 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 76 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7812Verb · Translated: worship 38, bow 36, bowed 33, worshiped 23Full study and all 166 verses →
Genesis 22:5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”
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.
- עָבַד âbadwork, servetranslated this way 35 times of its 286 uses · Strong’s H5647Verb · Translated: serve 110, served 44, worship 32, work 9Full study and all 259 verses →
Exodus 3:12 “I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”
Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars— all the host of heaven— do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
- סְגִד segiddo homagetranslated this way 11 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H5457Verb · Translated: worship 11, paid homage 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Daniel 3:5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
Daniel 3:6 And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”
- יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 8 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s H3372Verb · Translated: afraid 109, fear 98, feared 23, awesome 21Full study and all 303 verses →
2 Kings 17:7 All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods
2 Kings 17:25 Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
- יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 5 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H3373Adjective · Translated: fear 33, fears 10, feared 5, afraid 4Full study and all 64 verses →
2 Kings 17:32 So the new residents worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed for themselves priests of all sorts to serve in the shrines of the high places.
Jonah 1:9 “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- צָמַד tsâmadbind, jointranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6775Verb · Translated: joined in worshiping 2, strapped 1, harness 1, yoked 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Numbers 25:3 So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against them.
Numbers 25:5 So Moses told the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- προσκυνέω proskynéōI worshiptranslated this way 50 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G4352Verb · Translated: worship 30, worshiped 17, knelt 4, worshipers 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Matthew 2:2 asking, “Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Luke 4:7 So if You worship me, it will all be Yours.”
- λατρεύω latreúōI serve, worshiptranslated this way 7 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s G3000Verb · Translated: serve 10, worship 6Full study and all 21 verses →
Luke 2:37 and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Acts 7:7 ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’
- σέβομαι sébomaiI reverence, worshiptranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4576Verb · Translated: worship 3, worshiper 2, God-fearing 2, devout 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 15:9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”
Mark 7:7 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
- λατρεία latreíaservice, worshiptranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2999Noun · Translated: service 1, temple worship 1, service of worship 1, worship 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Romans 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
Hebrews 9:1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
- σέβασμα sébasmaan object of worshiptranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4574Noun · Translated: objects of worship 1, object of worship 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 17:23 For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.
2 Thessalonians 2:4 He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
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 worship: 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.