ka.ra denotes lowering oneself by kneeling or bowing, and in other contexts crouching, sinking, or being brought low.

The predominant use depicts a person or group lowering themselves on the knees or with the face to the ground in homage, prayer, or submission. Other verses use the same bodily-lowering imagery for a lion crouching, people kneeling to drink, creatures crouching in labor, or someone sinking or falling; Hiphil forms describe causing opponents or others to be brought low.

1. Kneeling or bowing in homage and prayer · dominant

   Qal forms describe people lowering themselves before a superior or before the LORD: in 2 Kings 1:13 the ruler of fifty bows on his knees before Elijah while entreating him, and in Ezra 9:5 the first-person form occurs as the speaker kneels and spreads out his hands to the LORD. In 2 Chronicles 7:3 the APB renders Israel's response to the fire and glory as bowing with faces to the ground, while Esther 3:2 places the participial forms in the commanded homage to Haman.

   2 Kings 1:13Ezra 9:52 Chronicles 7:3Esther 3:2Isaiah 45:23Psalm 95:6
2. Crouching, kneeling, sinking, or falling down · common

   The Qal form portrays lowered bodily posture outside an act of homage: Genesis 49:9 describes Judah as a lion that crouches and lies down, and Judges 7:5 distinguishes those who kneel on their knees to drink. In Judges 5:27 the repeated perfect form occurs amid the description of a man sinking and falling dead, while Job 39:3 has a feminine plural form as animals crouch in order to bring forth their young.

   Genesis 49:9Judges 7:5Judges 5:27Job 39:32 Kings 9:24Isaiah 46:2
3. Causing someone to be brought low · occasional

   Hiphil forms place the action upon another: in 2 Samuel 22:40 the APB renders the clause as making those who rose against the speaker “sink under me,” and Psalm 17:13 petitions the LORD to confront the wicked and “bring him low.” Judges 11:35 uses Hiphil forms in the father's complaint that his daughter has brought him very low.

   2 Samuel 22:40Psalm 17:13Judges 11:35Psalm 78:31

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB uses expressions such as “bowed down,” “knelt,” “crouches,” “sank,” and “bring him low.” These are verse-level renderings to the lemma.