Psalm 95:6
“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Psalm 95 calls God's people to worship. After the joyful praise of the opening verses, verse 6 calls for humble, reverent worship before God as Creator.
What Does Psalm 95:6 Mean?
This verse calls for worship that bends the body in reverence. Earlier the psalm summoned glad, loud praise; now it summons a different posture -- "worship and bow down... kneel before the LORD." The three verbs all describe humble physical acts: bowing, lowering oneself, kneeling. Worship here is not only inward feeling but outward humility, the body expressing what the heart knows about who God is.
Once again the invitation is shared -- "let us" -- and gentle: "O come." But the reason given is different from before. Here God is named "our maker." To bow before the One who made us is the most natural thing in the world; the creature humbling itself before the Creator. This grounds reverence in relationship: He is not a distant power but the maker who formed us, and we belong to Him. The verse teaches that worship rightly engages the whole person. There is a place for the joyful shout of the earlier verses and a place for the bowed head and bent knee of this one. Both are fitting. Together they show that worship holds joy and reverence at once -- celebrating God gladly while honoring Him humbly as the One who made us and to whom we owe ourselves.
In the Original Language
"Bow down" renders the Hebrew shachah, to prostrate oneself in homage; "kneel" is barak, related to the word for blessing, picturing the bent knee of one who honors and adores.
Cross References
“Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
- Psalm 100:3
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;”
- Philippians 2:10
“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.”
- Psalm 96:9
Application
Let your worship engage your whole self -- joining glad praise with humble reverence, bowing in heart and posture before the God who made you.