proskyne´ō - worship, adore

The same word, proskyne´ō that the Jehovah Witnesses say the translators of the King James Bible mis-translated as worship or adore for Jesus is also used in John 4:20-25, where Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, and speaks of worshipping the Father. So the JW claim is that the same word is used for both Worship of God, and honor of men, therfore in the Gospels it means honor, not worship, for Jesus.

This using the same word for honor and worship is a Hebaism, which stills showed up in The Septuagint, the first Hebrew into Greek translation of the Old Testament (and the actual Canon for the Orthodox Church]. The Septuagint was written 200-350 years before the Gospels. The situation where the same word proskyne´ō is used for both worship and obeisance (honor) arose because they were translating from the Hebrew, and Hebrew tended to rely on context for much of its meaning. A Jew would know that the same word when applied to Boaz meant obeisance but that word applied to God meant worship. But by the time of Apostles, the Gospel writers made the distinction. It appears proskyne´ō was not used to refer simply to honor for a creature.

do´xa is the Greek word reserved to mean honor of creatures. The Gospel writers, who wrote between 40-96 AD, make the distinction between proskyne´ō worship of God and do´xa honor for men. When the Greek writers of the New Testament time period used proskyne´ō, they apparently only referred to God, or to Jesus, and not to a non-divine person or creature.

John4:21 proskunhsete proskyne´ō = worship/adore
legei auth o ihsouV gunai pisteuson moi oti ercetai wra ote oute en tw orei toutw oute en ierosolumoiV proskunhsete tw patri
4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

John 9:38 prosekunhsen proskyne´ō = worship/adore
odeefhpisteuwkuriekaiprosekunhsenautw
9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him [Jesus].

Matthew 2:2 proskunhsai proskyne´ō = worship/adore
legonteVpouestinotecqeiVbasileuVtwnioudaiwneidomengarautoutonasteraenthanatolhkaihlqomenproskunhsaiautw
2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we [the Magi] have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him [infant Jesus].

Matthew 4:9 proskunhshV proskyne´ō = worship/adore
kailegeiautwtautapantasoidwsweanpeswnproskunhshVmoi
4:9 And [Satan] saith unto him [Jesus], All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Matthew 14:33 prosekunhsan proskyne´ō = worship/adore
oideentwploiwelqonteVprosekunhsanautwlegonteValhqwVqeouuioVei
Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.