What Does Matthew 2:11 Mean in the King James?

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The visitors’ homage is already embodied before a single treasure is opened.

THE MEANING

You meet the child before you know what to offer: the visitors’ bodies are already bowed while their treasures remain closed. The passage holds posture and possession in one encounter; what they present comes after the bow.

THE ROOT

προσκυνέω

proskyneō

GROWS FROM

⁨προσκυν-⁩ (the verbal stem of ⁨προσκυνέω⁩)

Bow down, prostrate oneself, pay homage.

The KJV’s “worshipped” carries a visible posture here: the visitors fall down and bow before opening their treasures. The Greek word family also names the act of bowing and the one who bows, joining the body’s gesture to homage.

ALSO GROWS

proskynēsis: Bowing, an act of homage.

προσκύνησις

The noun keeps homage attached to the physical act visible in the visitors’ bowed bodies.

proskynētēs: One who bows or pays homage; a worshipper.

προσκυνητής

This word names the person by the posture and homage expressed in the scene.

THE PATTERN

Homage becomes visible through the body’s bow.

And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.

Genesis 24:26 · KJVThe man’s homage takes bodily form in a bow.

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Psalm 95:6 · KJVWorship, bowing, and kneeling appear together as one embodied response.

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

Revelation 5:14 · KJVThe elders’ bodies fall down as their homage becomes visible.

THE THREAD

And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

Hebrews 1:6 · KJV

Hebrews uses ⁨προσκυνέω⁩ (proskyneō), meaning “bow down” or pay homage, the same verb rendered “worshipped” here. The word carries the visitors’ bowed posture into a wider scene of homage, joining earthly travelers and heavenly messengers through one gesture.

This reading is from Selah Verse.

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