What Does Revelation 13:4 Mean?
And they bow down to the dragon, who has given authority to the beast, and they bow down to the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? And who is able to fight with him?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?THE KEY
The crowd takes the LORD’s “Who is like thee?” and redirects it to a beast whose authority the verse says was given to it.
THE MEANING
You see authority flow from the dragon to the beast, then see the crowd bow to both. Their question turns the beast’s capacity for war into a claim that it has no equal. The verse exposes how received power can be treated as ultimate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that power no one can defeat must be ultimate. The verse calls the beast’s authority given, so its apparent supremacy is dependent even as the crowd calls it incomparable.
THE ROOT
προσεκύνησαν
prosekynēsan
GROWS FROM
προσκυνέω
proskyneō
To bow down or prostrate oneself before another.
“bow down” in this verse is prosekynēsan. The Greek verb describes a bodily bow, not only an inward opinion. The crowd’s posture enacts submission to the one whose power they treat as unmatched.
ALSO GROWS
proskynēsis: The act of bowing or prostrating; worship.
προσκύνησις
This related noun names the posture contained in the verse’s verb: the crowd bends before the beast.
proskynētēs: A worshipper, one who bows.
προσκυνητής
The word defines the worshipper by the direction of the bow; John 4:23 uses it for those who worship the Father.
δύναται
dynatai
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dynamai
To be able, capable, or to have the power to act.
“able” in this verse is dynatai. The crowd asks who has the capacity to wage war against the beast, treating its force as unanswerable. The question turns the beast’s received authority into a claim of invulnerability.
ALSO GROWS
dynamis: Power, capacity, or ability.
δύναμις
This related noun names the capacity the crowd sees as making the beast untouchable.
dynatos: Able, powerful, or possible.
δυνατός
This related adjective carries the same language of ability and power that shapes the crowd’s challenge.
THE PATTERN
The bow marks which power is treated as ultimate, whether it belongs to an image, a tempter, or a beast.
You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a zealous God, visiting the crookedness of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.And he said to him, All these things I will give you, if you fall down and bow down to me.who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and bowed down and served the creation beside the one who created, who is praised for the ages. Amen.THE THREAD
Who is like you among the mighty ones, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in being set apart, awe-inspiring in praises, doing wonders?Exodus directs “Who is like thee?” to the LORD; Revelation places the same challenge in the crowd’s mouth about the beast. The shift makes the beast’s military force sound like a rival claim to divine uniqueness, even as the verse says its authority was given.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us