Matthew 2:11

2:11 As they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, they bowed down ¹  and worshiped him. They opened their treasure boxes and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, ²  and myrrh. ³ 

Matthew 8:2

8:2 And a leper ⁴  approached, and bowed low before him, saying, ⁵  “Lord, if ⁶  you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Matthew 14:33

14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 15:25

15:25 But she came and bowed down ⁷  before him and said, ⁸  “Lord, help me!”

Matthew 28:17

28:17 When ⁹  they saw him, they worshiped him, ¹⁰  but some doubted. ¹¹ 

[2:11]  ¹ tn Grk “they fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[2:11]  ² sn Frankincense refers to the aromatic resin of certain trees, used as a sweet-smelling incense (L&N 6.212).

[2:11]  ³ sn Myrrh consisted of the aromatic resin of certain shrubs (L&N 6.208). It was used in preparing a corpse for burial.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “And behold, a leper came.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[8:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “a leper approaching, bowed low before him, saying.”

[8:2]  ⁶ tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.

[15:25]  ⁷ tn In this context the verb προσκυνέω (proskunew), which often describes worship, probably means simply bowing down to the ground in an act of reverence or supplication (see L&N 17.21).

[15:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “she bowed down to him, saying.”

[28:17]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[28:17]  ¹⁰ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[28:17]  ¹¹ tn The Greek text reads here οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν (Joi de edistasan). Some scholars argue that the article is functioning like a personal pronoun, thus “they doubted” (e.g., D. A. Hagner, Matthew [WBC], 2:884). If so, then all the disciples would be in view. The translation of the text takes οἱ as an alternative pronoun which has a partitive notion (i.e., some of the disciples doubted, but not all). The difficulty with the personal pronoun view is that there are no examples of it in Matthew in which the same subject immediately precedes with its own verb (as would be the case in “they worshiped…they doubted”). Such, in fact, would be quite awkward, for the article would be unnecessary since the pronominal referent is already embedded in the verb. The only reason for the article here would be to distinguish the subject in some way; but if the same subject is in view, no distinction is being made.