What Does Genesis 24:26 Mean in the King James?
And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.
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 verse names worship only after showing it twice: the head bends, then the person bows.
THE MEANING
The verse presents reverence as a physical event: the head lowers, and the man bows before the LORD. Recognition does not remain sealed inside thought; the body gives it visible form.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that worship is only an inward feeling or spoken praise: here, a body lowering itself is part of the act.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ
wayyishtachu
GROWS FROM
שחה
shachah
To bow low or prostrate oneself.
The Hebrew verb translated “worshipped” describes a body bowing down. Paired with the preceding word for bending, it makes the physical lowering unmistakable.
ALSO GROWS
hishtachavah: to bow oneself down; to prostrate oneself
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This form names the bodily action behind “worshipped” in the verse.
wayyishtachavu: and they bowed themselves down
וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ
The same root appears in Exodus 4:31, where a whole people bows and worships.
וַיִּקֹּד
wayyiqod
GROWS FROM
קדד
qadad
To bend or bow down, especially the head.
“bowed down” in this verse is wayyiqod. The first verb already carries the motion of bending, and the KJV makes the head explicit. English then gives “worshipped” as a second action, while Hebrew lets two different roots show the posture from two angles.
ALSO GROWS
qadad: to bend or bow the head
קָדַד
This is the root motion expressed by the man’s first gesture.
wayyiqdu: and they bowed down
וַיִּקְּדוּ
The same root appears in Exodus 4:31 in the plural, when the people bow their heads.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of the LORD becomes visible through bodies that bow.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,THE THREAD
And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.This verse repeats the same two Hebrew roots: qadad for bowing the head, then shachah for bowing down in worship. The echo shows the same bodily grammar of recognition in one man and in a whole people.
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