To BOW DOWN, to prostrate oneself, to do homage — a body-word before it is a theological one. Greek used it of gods and of kings alike, and Matthew uses it both ways: of a slave on his face before his master (18:26) and of the disciples in the boat saying 'truly you are the Son of God' (14:33). ⚠ The shelf divides on it and the division is doctrinal. KJV/ASV/NIV read 'worship' — defensible, but note that the KJV also has the slave 'worship' his lord in 18:26, because in 1611 the English word still covered homage to a human superior, which it no longer does. NWT reads 'do obeisance', lexically available and closer to the gesture, but applies it to Jesus while keeping 'worship' for God — a distinction the Greek word does not itself make. This translation prints the gesture in every mouth that uses it, Herod's included (2:8), and leaves what the gesture means to the reader. → first discussed at Matt 2:2