What Does Revelation 11:16 Mean in the King James?
And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
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 elders’ worship begins when their seats stop defining their posture: before God, they fall face-down.
THE MEANING
You see authority lowering itself in God’s presence: the elders leave their seats, fall face-down, and worship. Their posture gives worship a physical form, so honor is embodied as well as spoken or held inwardly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Worship is only an inward feeling or spoken praise; here the elders enact it with their bodies, falling face-down.
THE ROOT
προσεκύνησαν
prosekynēsan
GROWS FROM
προσκυν-
proskyn-
To bow down before; to prostrate oneself.
The verb translated “worshipped” belongs to the word family for bowing down before someone. Here it follows the elders falling on their faces, so worship is shown as a bodily lowering, not only an inward attitude or spoken praise.
ALSO GROWS
proskyneō: To bow down before; to worship.
προσκυνέω
This is the verb’s dictionary form and appears again for the elders’ worship in Revelation 4:10.
proskynētēs: One who bows down; a worshipper.
προσκυνητής
John 4:23 uses this word for those who worship, linking the act in this verse with the people who embody it.
THE PATTERN
Worship is repeatedly expressed through the body bowing before God.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king.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.THE THREAD
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,The same elders fall and worship with the same Greek verb, προσκυνέω (proskyneō), to bow down before. Here their seats give way to face-down posture; in Revelation 4:10, their crowns also come off as they fall.
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