shacha · bow down, worship

What it means

shacha (שָׁחָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “bow down, worship”.

Bow down: bend down to the ground. It was the gesture of respect before someone greater (a king, a visitor) and also the gesture of worshiping God.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To bow to the ground before someone in respect.
2. To bow before God in adoration.
3. To make one's spirit come down, like a weight.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To bow down: to bend to the ground, as a sign of respect before a person or of worship before God. BDB: to depress, that is, prostrate, especially reflexively, in homage to royalty or God.

• Before persons: Abraham before the visitors, Jacob before Esau Genesis 18:2Genesis 33:3
• Joseph's dream: “bowing down before me” Genesis 37:9
• Before YHWH Exodus 4:31Psalms 29:21 Samuel 1:3
• “You shall not bow down to them”: to other gods Exodus 20:5

How we translate it

Forms of “bow down”: “bow down” 80, “bowed down” 75, “was bowing down” 3, “prostrated himself” 3… The form הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה is translated “bow down”, not “worship”: it is the same gesture before a king, before a visitor or before God, and the passage says before whom. Only in a few verses (Exodus 4:31) is it “worshiped”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• bow down ×80
• bowed down ×75
• prostrated himself ×3
• was bowing down ×3
• bows down ×2
• were bowing down ×2
• worshiped ×2
• bowing down ×1
• prostrated themselves ×1
• prostrates itself ×1
• others ×2

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×23
• Exodus×11
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×2
• Deuteronomy×8
• Joshua×3
• Judges×4
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×12
• 2 Samuel×13
• 1 Kings×11
• 2 Kings×12
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×11
• Nehemiah×3
• Esther×3
• Job×1
• Psalms×17
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×14
• Jeremiah×8
• Ezekiel×4
• Micah×1
• Zephaniah×3
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 18:2

  He lifted his eyes and looked, and look, three men were standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed down to the ground.

• Genesis 19:1

  The two messengers came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

• Genesis 22:5

  Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there; we will bow down and come back to you.”

• Genesis 23:7

  Abraham rose and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.

• Genesis 23:12

  Abraham bowed down before the people of the land,

• Genesis 24:26

  The man bowed his head and bowed down to YHWH

• Genesis 24:48

  And I bowed my head and bowed down to YHWH, and I blessed YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, who had led me on a true way to take the daughter of my lord’s brother for his son.

• Genesis 24:52

  When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground to YHWH.

• Genesis 27:29

  May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”

• Genesis 33:3

  He himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

• Genesis 33:6

  Then the slave women came near, they and their children, and bowed down.

• Genesis 33:7

  Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

• Genesis 37:7

  Look, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and look, my sheaf rose and also stood upright; and look, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down before my sheaf.”

• Genesis 37:9

  He dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream: look, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down before me.”

• Genesis 37:10

  He told it to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow down before you to the ground?”

• Genesis 42:6

  Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

• Genesis 43:26

  When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift that was in their hand, into the house, and bowed down to him to the ground.

• Genesis 43:28

  They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and bowed down.

• Genesis 47:31

  He said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed down upon the head of the bed.

• Genesis 48:12

  Then Joseph brought them out from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the ground.

• Genesis 49:8

  Judah, you your brothers will praise; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you.

• Exodus 4:31

  And the people believed; and when they heard that YHWH had attended to the sons of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed and worshiped.

• Exodus 11:8

  Then all these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who follow you!’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

• Exodus 12:27

  you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to YHWH, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he struck Egypt and delivered our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and bowed down.

• Exodus 18:7

  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.

• Exodus 20:5

  You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, YHWH your Elohim, am a jealous El, calling to account the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

• Exodus 23:24

  You shall not bow down to their gods or serve them, or do according to their works, but you shall utterly tear them down and smash their standing stones.

• Exodus 24:1

  To Moses he said, “Come up to YHWH, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and bow down from a distance.

• Exodus 32:8

  They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a calf of cast metal and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”

• Exodus 33:10

  And all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, and all the people would rise and bow down, each man at the entrance of his tent.

• Exodus 34:8

  And Moses hurried to bow to the ground and worshiped.

• Exodus 34:14

  For you shall not bow down to another god, for YHWH, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous El.

• Leviticus 26:1

  You shall not make idols for yourselves, and you shall not set up for yourselves a carved image or a standing stone, and you shall not put a sculpted stone in your land to bow down on it; for I am YHWH your Elohim.

• Numbers 22:31

  Then YHWH uncovered the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of YHWH standing in the road, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed and prostrated himself on his face.

• Numbers 25:2

  They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

• Deuteronomy 4:19

  And so that you do not lift up your eyes to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the army of the heavens, and be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them; YHWH your Elohim has allotted them to all the peoples under all the heavens.

• Deuteronomy 5:9

  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, YHWH your Elohim, am a jealous El, calling to account the iniquity of fathers upon children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me,

• Deuteronomy 8:19

  But it will be, if you do forget YHWH your Elohim and go after other gods and serve them and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

• Deuteronomy 11:16

  Guard yourselves, lest your heart be seduced and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them,

• Deuteronomy 17:3

  and has gone and served other gods and bowed down to them, or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the army of the heavens, which I have not commanded,

And 132 more times.