The powers that be

For other uses, see The Powers That Be.

In idiomatic English, "the powers that be" is a phrase used to refer to those individuals or groups who collectively hold authority over a particular domain.^[1] Within this phrase, the word be is an archaic variant of are rather than a subjunctive be.

Origin

The phrase first appeared in the Tyndale Bible, William Tyndale's 1526 translation of Romans Chapter 13 verse 1 in the New Testament, as: "Let every soul submit himself unto the authority of the higher powers. There is no power but of God. The powers that be, are ordained of God".^[2] In the 1611 King James Version it became, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: The powers that be are ordained of God." (Rom 13:1),^[3] whence it eventually passed into popular language.^[4][5]

The phrase comes from a translation of the Greek: αἱ ... οὖσαι [ἐξουσίαι], romanized: hai ... oûsai [exousíai], lit. 'the ... existing [powers]'; ἐξουσίαι is also translated as "authorities" in some other translations.^[6]

Examples

"The powers that be" can refer to a variety of entities that depend on the domain, including

• Governments, both central and local, and the accompanying civil service
• The upper management of a business
• Those who control the dissemination of information
• Controlling bodies in any organization i.e corporation or activity
• Secret societies and cabals

See also

• Elite – Group or class of persons enjoying superior status
• Omnipotence – Property of possessing maximal power
• Romans 13 – thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian BiblePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• Supreme deity (disambiguation) – The sole deity of monotheistic religions or, in polytheistic or henotheistic religionsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• The Establishment – Visible dominant group that holds power or authority in a nation or organization
• Young Wizards#The Powers That Be – Novel series by Diane Duane