What Does 1 Kings 1:16 Mean in the King James?

And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou?

1 Kings 1:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The bow does not erase Bath-sheba’s agency: the king’s question opens space for her to name what she needs.

THE MEANING

You can approach with deference and still carry something that matters. Bath-sheba bows before the king, and he turns toward her with a question that invites her answer.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A bowed posture means you have no voice. Here, deference and the opening to speak occupy the same moment.

THE ROOT

וַתִּשְׁתַּחוּ

vattishtachu

GROWS FROM

שחה

Bow down; prostrate oneself.

“did obeisance” in this verse is vattishtachu. The same Hebrew root describes bowing in homage and bowing before God elsewhere. It keeps the focus on the body’s posture of deference, without making that posture the whole person.

ALSO GROWS

shachah: To bow down or prostrate oneself.

שָׁחָה

This is the root’s basic verbal form, naming the bodily gesture beneath “did obeisance.”

hishtachavah: To bow oneself; do obeisance.

הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה

This reflexive form from the same root highlights the person taking the posture, as Bath-sheba does here.

THE PATTERN

A person can approach authority with a bowed or kneeling posture and still bring a direct request.

Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.

Esther 5:3 · KJVThe king’s question turns an encounter with authority toward the person’s own request.

And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

Mark 10:17 · KJVThe man kneels and still asks directly, joining a lowered posture with a spoken need.

THE THREAD

And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

Exodus 34:8 · KJV

The Hebrew verb translated “worshipped” here comes from the same ⁨שחה⁩ root as Bath-sheba’s obeisance. The shared word shows the bodily act of bowing across two different encounters; the one before whom a person bows gives the posture its context.

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