Passage

Philippians 2.10-11

"so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10-11, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"8. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. 9. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;"

"10. that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"12. So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13. for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:8-13, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"8. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross. 9. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;"

"10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"12. So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:8-13, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ^{fashion: or habit} 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:"

"10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:8-13, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"8. and in fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, death even of a cross, 9. wherefore, also, God did highly exalt him, and gave to him a name that [is] above every name,"

"10. that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of heavenlies, and earthlies, and what are under the earth, 11. and every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"12. So that, my beloved, as ye always obey, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling your own salvation work out, 13. for God it is who is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:8-13, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle (composing from prison)
Audience: Christian believers in Philippi, the first European congregation Paul planted (Acts 16)
Location: composed during Roman imprisonment, traditionally identified with the Roman captivity of Acts 28
Time period: composed c. AD 60-62; the underlying Christ-hymn likely pre-dates the letter and was already being sung in early Christian worship

Synthesis

Philippians 2:6-11 is the Christ-hymn, a tight liturgical fragment about Jesus's pre-incarnate equality with God, his self-emptying into incarnation and crucifixion, and his post-resurrection exaltation. Verses 10 and 11 are the climax: every knee bows and every tongue confesses Jesus as Kyrios (Lord). Paul is quoting Isaiah 45:23, where YHWH says of himself "to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance," and applying that universal-monotheistic-confession text to Jesus. The move is unmistakable in a Jewish-monotheist frame. It is the strongest single-passage application of YHWH-language to Jesus in the Pauline corpus.

Theological reading

The Isaiah 45:23 quotation is the load-bearing claim. In its original setting Isaiah 45 is one of the most aggressively monotheistic chapters in the Hebrew Bible. YHWH declares "I am the LORD, and there is no other" (45:5, 6, 18, 21, 22), and then in 45:23 declares that this universal allegiance is owed to him alone: "to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." A first-century Jew reading Philippians 2:10-11 with Isaiah 45 in mind sees Paul taking the YHWH-only allegiance text and applying it, without qualification, to Jesus. See Isaiah 45.23 for the source-text treatment and Romans 14.11 for Paul's other deployment of the same Isaiah quotation, there applied to "God" without the Jesus-anchored move.

"The name above every name" is the divine Name. In Septuagint convention Kyrios (Lord) translates the tetragrammaton YHWH. When Paul says God "bestowed on Him the name which is above every name" and then immediately specifies that name as Kyrios, the most natural Second-Temple reading is that God has shared the divine Name itself with Jesus. The confession formula "Jesus Christ is Kyrios" is the earliest Christian creed (cf. Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12:3), and it does not function as a generic honorific. It is the confession that the crucified Jesus bears the Name of Israel's God.

Cosmic scope rules out a merely civic confession. "Those in heaven and on earth and under the earth" is total-creation language; angels, humans, and the dead are all included. This is not "Caesar is lord" versus "Jesus is lord" politics alone (though Paul's audience would also have heard that). It is the universal eschatological homage that monotheistic Judaism reserves for YHWH. The Christ-hymn places that homage at Jesus's feet while keeping the doxological frame strictly Trinitarian: the confession terminates to the glory of God the Father. See Christs Deity for the systematic case and Trinity for the broader doctrinal context.

The voluntary-humiliation arc grounds the exaltation. Verses 6-8 say Jesus, "existing in the form of God," did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited but emptied himself, becoming obedient to death on a cross. Verses 9-11 are the therefore: because of that humiliation, God highly exalted him and gave him the divine Name. This is not adoption into a status he did not previously possess; the same one who already possessed morphē theou (the form of God) is the one being publicly vindicated and acclaimed. The hymn moves through pre-existence, incarnation, crucifixion, exaltation in one unbroken arc.

Key words

G2962 - kyrios, kyrios (Lord). In Septuagint usage this is the standard rendering of the tetragrammaton; Paul's identification of Jesus's bestowed name as Kyrios is the deity-of-Christ move.
G3686 - onoma, onoma (name). "The name which is above every name" centers on divine Name-theology.
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous (Jesus). The personal name to which every knee bows.
G5547 - christos, christos (Christ / Messiah). The titular component of the confession.
G1391 - doxa, doxa (glory). The confession terminates "to the glory of God the Father," marking the Trinitarian doxological frame.
G3962 - pater, pater (Father). The Father is the doxological terminus; the Son receives the universal homage that glorifies the Father.

Theological themes

Deity of Christ via Isaiah-45 quotation. The single strongest Pauline application of a YHWH-only text to Jesus.
The Christ-hymn arc. Pre-existence, kenosis, crucifixion, exaltation, universal acclamation; the earliest articulated high Christology.
Trinitarian doxology. Universal homage to the Son glorifies the Father; the structure assumes the Spirit-enabled confession (1 Cor 12:3).
Cosmic eschatology. Every knee will bow; the question is whether one bows willingly in worship now or unwillingly in judgment then.
Kenosis ethics. Paul cites the hymn to motivate humility in the Philippian church (2:1-5); the deity of Christ functions pastorally, not abstractly.

Cross-references

Isaiah 45.23, the source-text Paul is quoting; "to Me every knee will bow" said by YHWH of himself.
Romans 14.11, Paul's other application of Isaiah 45:23, there to "God" in a judgment-seat context.
John 1.1-14, the Johannine prologue's parallel high-Christology arc through pre-existence and incarnation.
John 14.6, Christ's self-identification with exclusive access to the Father.
1 Corinthians 15.1-4, the early-creed material co-located with this Christ-hymn in the earliest-confession evidence.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.