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All KJV Words

Archaic KJV Word

Worship

Modern equivalent: praise

What Was Lost

The concept of declaring ultimate worth. To worship was to make a public valuation: this being is worth everything. The word carried economic and social weight -- you were assigning supreme worth to God above all competitors. Modern 'worship' often means little more than singing with eyes closed.

Closest Survivor in Modern English

worship (still used but mostly associated with music rather than life-encompassing worth-declaration)

Peak Usage (1611)

KJV John 4:24 -- 'God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth'

Died still used but hollowed (~1970)

Reduced from worth-ship (Old English weorthscipe, 'declaring the worth of') to 'religious activity,' particularly singing in church services.

What Replaced It

praise

One component of worship; worth-ship encompassed all acts that declared God's supreme value

church service

A time slot rather than a posture of the soul

singing

One expression of worship mistaken for its entirety

Related KJV Words