Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

I quote from HALOT (A little dense, but relevant info and references are in 
there)—and as you'll see, HALOT claims 170 occurrences.


II חוה: ‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה‎, trad. hitpal. of → שׁחה (BL 420k; Bergsträsser 
2:164i), MHb., JArm. pe. and hitpal. (Jastrow 1547); reflexive šafel, but 
attested in Hebrew only for this verb: VG 1:525ff; BL 486k; Beer-M. §72:1c, 
82:5c, cf. Ug. y/tštḥwy to be prostrate before (ḥwy UTGl. 847; Aistleitner 
912; Driver Myths 138a; Albright JPOS 12:19741 and in Rowley Modern Study 
32f; Hammershaimb 53, 221f), Arb. ḥwy V to curl up, ? Eg. ḥwy to beat 
(Gordon); cf. שׁחח.

eštaf (170 x): pf. ‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה‎, ‏וֵיתִי‎/‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ‎, 
‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוֵיתִי‎, ‏הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ‎, impf. ‏יִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה‎/‏אֶ‎, 
‏וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶה‎, ‏תָּֽחוּ‎/‏וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ‎, pl. ‏יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ‎, 
‏וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוֻּ‎ Gn 4328 (Q ‏ווּ‎-, ‏חֲווּ‎-, K ‏חוּ‎-), 
‏וַתִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶיןָ‎, impv. ‏ווּ‎/‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוִי‎, inf. ‏הִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת‎ 
(‏לשתחות 1QPHab xii:13, → BL 228a; Elliger Nah.-Mal. 495) בְּהִשְׁתַחֲוָיָתִי 
2K 518 (Aramaism BL 426, Montgomery-G. 579), pt. ‏מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה‎, 
‏מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים‎, ‏מִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם‎ Ezk 816 mixed form from pt. and pf., rd. 
מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים (:: Gordon RSO 32:31): to bow down (Akk. šukēnu, Arb. sajada, 
προσκυνεῖν: with אֶרֶץ Is 4923, with ‏אָֽרְצָה to the earth Gn 182, ‏אַפַּיִם 
אָֽרְצָה 191 and ‏לְאַפָּיו אָֽרְצָה 4812 with his face to the earth, with לְ 
before Ps 995.9 2230 (rd. אַךְ לוֹ יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ) with ‏עַל‎ before Lv 261, 
with ‏אֶל towards Ps 58; ‏קָדַד וְהִשְׁ׳ (קדד only in this connection) Gn 
2426 and oft., lying (→ Noth Könige 28) Gn 4731 1K 147 †; —1. before a higher 
person (Östrup 30ff): beggar 1S 236, supplicants before someone in authority 
Gn 337, Absalom 2S 1433 before David, bride before the king Ps 4512, woman 
before man 1S 2523, before prophet 2K 437; metaph. the nations before Israel 
Gn 2729; —2. in worship: before the stars Dt 419, before פֶּסֶל Ex 205; 
before רִמּוֹן in the temple 2K 518, before the holy mountain Ps 999, 
generally as attitude of prayer (→ Ap-Thomas VT 6:229f; Reicke-R. 518ff).


GEORGE ATHAS
Director of Postgraduate Studies,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia