Psalms 95:6

Idolaters kneel before gods which they themselves made; we kneel before a God who made us and all the world and who is therefore our rightful proprietor; for his we are, and not our own. (2.) He is our Saviour, and the author of our blessedness. He is here called the rock of our salvation (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

O come, let us worship and bow down,....

Here the exhortation to worship is renewed and backed with a motive which, to Israel of old and to Christians now, is especially powerful; for both the Israel after the flesh and the Israel of faith may be described as the people of his pasture, and by both he is called "our God." O come, let us worship and bow down. The adoration is to be humble. The "joyful noise" is to be accompanied with lowliest reverence. We are to worship in such style that the bowing down shall indicate that we count ourselves to be as nothing in the presence of the all glorious Lord. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. As suppliants must we come; joyful, but not presumptuous; familiar as children before a father, yet reverential as creatures before their maker. Posture is not everything, yet is it something; prayer is heard when knees cannot bend, but it is seemly that an adoring heart should show its awe by prostrating the body, and bending the knee.

O come, let us worship - Three distinct words are used here to express three different acts of adoration: 1. Let us worship, נשתחוה nishtachaveh, let us prostrate ourselves; the highest act of adoration by which the supremacy of God is acknowledged. 2. Let us bow down, נכרעה nichraah, let us crouch or cower down, bending the legs under, as a dog in the presence of his master, which solicitously waits to receive his commands. 3. Let us kneel, נברכה nibrachah, let us put our knees to the ground, and thus put ourselves in the posture of those who supplicate. And let us consider that all this should be done in the presence of Him who is Jehovah our Creator.

O come, let us worship and bow down - Let us worship him by bowing down; by prostrating ourselves before him. The word here rendered “come” is not the same which is used in Psa 95:1. Its literal meaning is “come,” and it is an earnest exhortation to come and worship. It is not a particle merely calling attention to a subject, but it is an exhortation to approach - to enter - to engage in a thing. The word rendered “worship,” means properly to bow down; to incline oneself; and then, to bow or prostrate oneself before anyone in order to do him homage, or reverence. Then it means to bow down before God in the attitude of worship. It would most naturally refer to an entire “prostration” on the ground, which was a common mode of worship; but it would also express adoration in any form. The word rendered “bow down,” means properly to bend, to bow, spoken usually of the knees. Isa 45:23: “every knee shall bow.” Compare Jdg 7:5-6; 1Ki 8:54; 2Ki 1:13. The word might be applied, like the former word, to those who bow down with the whole person, or prostrate themselves on the ground. 2Ch 7:3. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker - The usual attitude of prayer in the Scriptures. See the notes at Dan 6:10; compare 2Ch 6:13; Luk 22:41; Act 7:60; Act 9:40; Act 20:36; Act 21:5. All the expressions here employed denote a posture of profound reverence in worship, and the passage is a standing rebuke of all irreverent postures in prayer; of such habits as often prevail in public worship where no change of posture is made in prayer, and where a congregation irreverently sit in the act of professedly worshipping God. People show to their fellowmen the respect indicated by rising up before them: much more should they show respect to God - respect in a posture which will indicate profound reverence, and a deep sense of his presence and majesty. […]