bend the knee

verb3

1. •
   To swear fealty or allegiance to another person.

   • The timid among them declared that he would burn the houses and hang all that had bent the knee to King Louis. — 1905
2. •
   To submit to or show reverence toward a divine power.

   • Jezebel, though she bent the knee to Baal, was pleasing in Ahab’s sight; and he saw that her father’s army, though deplorably pagan, wielded heavy swords. — 1928
3. •
   To show undue deference, obedience, or support for someone or something.

   • But there's something more sinister in the need for companies to bend the knee to Washington politicians. — 2013