What Does 2 Thessalonians 2:9 Mean in the King James?
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, wonder is not proof of truth: falsehood itself can work through power.
THE MEANING
Right now, power, signs, and astonishing events can form the active machinery of falsehood. Their force can be real while the wonder serves a lie; the verse names the operation and its adversarial source together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an astonishing sign must certify a truthful source dissolves here: this verse places signs and wonders inside the working of falsehood.
THE ROOT
ἐνέργειαν
energeian
GROWS FROM
ἔργον
ergon
work, deed; an active operation
The word translated “working” names an active operation, not merely a background association. The same Greek noun returns in verse 11 as the “strong delusion,” tying this adversarial spectacle to deception becoming operative.
ALSO GROWS
energeō: to be at work, operate
ἐνεργέω
This verb from the same word family makes the sense active: the force described here is operating.
ergon: work, deed
ἔργον
This is the work or deed element in the word family; the “working” is an operation, not an idea alone.
ψεύδους
pseudous
GROWS FROM
ψεῦδος
pseudos
falsehood, lie
“lying” in this verse is pseudous. The Greek phrase can be heard as “wonders of falsehood,” placing the wonders in direct relation to the lie. The verse holds spectacle and deception together: the marvels belong to falsehood’s operation.
ALSO GROWS
pseudomai: to lie, speak falsely
ψεύδομαι
This verb names the act of falsehood, showing the same root at work as an action.
pseudēs: false, untrue
ψευδής
This adjective describes what belongs to the false; here, the wonders are bound to that quality.
THE PATTERN
A display of power can serve falsehood, so signs and wonders do not certify the nature behind them.
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.THE THREAD
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:The same Greek noun translated “working” here appears again as “strong delusion” in the next verse. The passage ties the adversary’s operation through signs to an operation of error that leads people to believe a lie.
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