What Does 2 Chronicles 29:29 Mean?
And when they had finished the offering, the king and all who were with him knelt and bowed down.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.THE KEY
The offering carries the sense of rising, and when it is complete, even the king lowers himself.
THE MEANING
The completed offering is followed by the king and everyone present bowing in worship. Ruler and gathered people share the same visible posture of lowering.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that rank places someone above reverence dissolves here: the king bows with everyone else.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ
vayyishtachavu
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow down or prostrate oneself.
“bowed down” in this verse is vayyishtachavu. The Hebrew verb depicts a body lowering itself, so worship here is visible posture, not merely an inward sentiment. The king and everyone with him take that posture together.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow down or prostrate oneself.
שָׁחָה
This is the root’s basic bodily image, present in the king’s act of bowing.
hishtachavah: To bow oneself or prostrate oneself in homage.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This reflexive form makes the lowering an action the worshipper takes with their own body.
עֹלָה
ʿolah
GROWS FROM
עלה
To rise, ascend, or go up.
עֹלָה (ʿolah, burnt offering) comes from עָלָה (ʿalah, to rise or ascend), giving the offering an upward motion in its name. When that rising is complete, the king and company lower themselves: the verse places ascent and bowing side by side.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: To rise, ascend, or go up.
עָלָה
This verb supplies the upward movement carried in the offering’s name.
ʿaliyah: An ascent or going up.
עֲלִיָּה
This related noun keeps the rising motion audible beneath the word for offering.
הַמֶּלֶךְ
hammelekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
To reign or rule.
“king” in this verse is hammelekh. The verse names the ruler before saying that he bows. The root’s language of ruling sits beside the posture of worship, showing authority included among those who lower themselves.
ALSO GROWS
malakh: To reign or rule.
מָלַךְ
This is the action contained in the root behind “king.”
malkhut: Kingship, reign, or kingdom.
מַלְכוּת
This related noun names the sphere of rule that does not stand apart from the shared posture of worship.
THE PATTERN
Worship becomes visible as bodies lower themselves, including the bodies of rulers.
And Moses hurried, and bent his head to the earth, and bowed down.Enter, let us bow down and kneel before the face of the LORD who makes us.The twenty-four older ones fall down before the one who sits upon the throne, and bow down to the one who lives into the ages of the ages, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,THE THREAD
Enter, let us bow down and kneel before the face of the LORD who makes us.The Hebrew word for “worship” here uses the same שחה (shachah, to bow down or prostrate oneself) root as the word in 2 Chronicles. Psalm 95 makes the bodily meaning explicit by setting worship beside bowing and kneeling.
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