Kejadian 18:2

18:2 Abraham ¹  looked up ²  and saw ³  three men standing across ⁴  from him. When he saw them ⁵  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ⁶  to the ground. ⁷ 

Kejadian 50:18

50:18 Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.”

Kejadian 50:1

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph

50:1 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. ⁸  He wept over him and kissed him.

1 Samuel 20:41

20:41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ⁹  knelt ¹⁰  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

1 Samuel 20:2

20:2 Jonathan ¹¹  said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing ¹²  large or small without making me aware of it. ¹³  Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

1 Samuel 19:18

19:18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.

Yesaya 60:14

60:14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;

all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.

They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,

Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ ¹⁴ 

[18:2]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:2]  ² tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”

[18:2]  ³ tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.

[18:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.

[18:2]  ⁵ tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.

[18:2]  ⁶ tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).

[18:2]  ⁷ sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the Lord and two angels (see Gen 19:1). It is not certain how soon Abraham recognized the true identity of the visitors. His actions suggest he suspected this was something out of the ordinary, though it is possible that his lavish treatment of the visitors was done quite unwittingly. Bowing down to the ground would be reserved for obeisance of kings or worship of the Lord. Whether he was aware of it or not, Abraham’s action was most appropriate.

[50:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “fell on.” The expression describes Joseph’s unrestrained sorrow over Jacob’s death; he probably threw himself across the body and embraced his father.

[20:41]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.

[20:41]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fell.”

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ¹² tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

[20:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”

[60:14]  ¹⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.