Bible Strands
2 Samuel 24:20
When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out and bowed facedown before the king.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Araunah looks out from his property and sees King David approaching with his servants, then exits to bow facedown before the monarch. This occurs immediately after David has obeyed the prophet Gad’s command to ascend the threshing floor to halt the plague.
The words — וַ/יַּשְׁקֵ֣ף (va/yishqef) literally means “he looked down” or “he peered out,” describing Araunah’s visual observation of the approaching royal party.
The thread — The combination of looking up and bowing facedown before a superior appears in Genesis 18:2, Ruth 2:10, and 2 Samuel 9:8, where subjects similarly prostrate themselves upon encountering royalty or divine messengers.
Why it lands — It demands the reader to acknowledge that physical submission precedes the king’s approach, establishing that worship and reverence must frame any subsequent transaction with God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
Cross-references
- Genesis 18:2 And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
- Ruth 2:10 At this, she fell on her face, bowing low to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?”
- 2 Samuel 9:8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”
- 1 Chronicles 21:20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves.