What Does Hebrews 1:6 Mean?
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the inhabited earth, he says, and let all the messengers of God bow down to him.
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 again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.THE KEY
The firstborn’s standing is revealed by the posture he receives: every messenger of God is summoned to bow before him.
THE MEANING
The firstborn enters the inhabited world as one before whom every messenger of God bows. Their posture makes his place among them unmistakable: they serve God, and they are commanded to bow before him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The firstborn is merely another of God’s messengers.
THE ROOT
προσκυνησάτωσαν
proskynēsatōsan
GROWS FROM
προσκυν- (from προσκυνέω, proskyneō)
To bow down or prostrate oneself.
“bow down” in this verse is proskynēsatōsan. The Greek verb makes the response a visible posture: the messengers bow before the firstborn. “Worship” carries this bodily movement within it, showing honor expressed through the body.
ALSO GROWS
proskynētēs: One who bows down; a worshipper.
προσκυνητής
The related noun names a person by this posture, making the act in this verse a defining response.
proskynēsousin: They will bow down.
προσκυνήσουσιν
This form of the same verb appears in Revelation 3:9, where people bow before the one God loves; the shared root keeps the posture of honor visible.
πρωτότοκον
prōtotokon
GROWS FROM
τίκτω
tiktō
To bear or bring forth.
The word joins prōtos, “first,” to tokos, “birth”: it names the firstborn and carries a sense of precedence. Here, the command to bow makes that standing visible among God’s messengers.
ALSO GROWS
prōtotokos: Firstborn.
πρωτότοκος
This is the form used of the firstborn; it shows that the verse’s title includes both birth order and precedence.
tokos: Birth or offspring.
τόκος
This related word returns the title to its language of birth, keeping the firstborn’s place connected to being brought forth.
THE PATTERN
The standing of God’s chosen one is revealed as beings from every realm bow before him.
Let all who serve carved images be shamed, all who boast in worthless things; bow down to him, all you gods.And when they had entered the house, they perceived the young child with Mary his mother, and fell to the ground and bowed down before him. And when they had opened their treasures, they brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of things in heaven, and things on the earth, and things under the earth.THE THREAD
And when they had entered the house, they perceived the young child with Mary his mother, and fell to the ground and bowed down before him. And when they had opened their treasures, they brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.The Greek uses the same verb, proskyneō: here the visitors bow before the child, while Hebrews summons God’s messengers to bow before the firstborn. The shared word links the child honored on earth with the one before whom heaven’s messengers bow.
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