What Does Revelation 17:13 Mean?
These have one mind, and they give their power and strength to the beast.
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
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.THE KEY
A shared mind becomes dangerous when it hands its combined capacity and authority to the beast.
THE MEANING
The verse reveals a live mechanism: one shared intention gathers ability and authority, then gives both to the beast. Unity has no moral direction of its own; what it empowers reveals what it serves.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Agreement does not prove that a cause is good; here, those united in purpose place their strength and authority at the beast’s disposal.
THE ROOT
γνώμην
gnōmēn
GROWS FROM
γνω-
gnō-
Knowing, recognizing; γνώμη names a judgment, intention, or settled view.
“one mind” in this verse is gnōmēn. The phrase points beyond identical thoughts: γνώμη is a shared judgment or intention, from a word family connected with knowing and recognizing. Their unity takes shape as a common aim, and what that aim empowers reveals what it serves.
ALSO GROWS
gignōskō: To know, recognize
γιγνώσκω
Its connection to knowing gives “one mind” the sense of a shared understanding or judgment.
gnōsis: Knowledge
γνῶσις
This related word keeps the shared mind tied to what is known and recognized, not mere sameness of thought.
δίδωμι
didōmi
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
To give, grant, or place into another’s possession.
“give” in this verse is didōmi. The alliance does more than agree: it transfers what it holds to the beast. The related word for handing over makes the act feel like a yielding of power, not an abstract alignment of minds.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver
παραδίδωμι
This compound makes the transfer in the verse vivid: power is handed over to another.
dosis: A giving, a gift
δόσις
It shows giving as the act of placing something into another’s possession.
δύναμιν
dynamin
GROWS FROM
δυνα-
dyna-
Ability, capacity, power.
The verse joins capacity with authority: δύναμις (dynamis: ability or power) is what the alliance can do, while ἐξουσία (exousia: authority or jurisdiction) is the authority it yields. Both are put at the beast’s disposal.
ALSO GROWS
dynamai: To be able
δύναμαι
It reveals power as capacity: what someone is able to do.
dynatos: Able, powerful
δυνατός
This related word carries the same sense of having the capacity to act.
THE PATTERN
Shared intention concentrates many people’s capacity, and what receives that capacity determines its direction.
And the LORD said, Look, they are one people, and they have all one lip; and this is what they begin to do. And now nothing they have devised to do will be walled off from them.Fill my joy, that you think the same thing, having the same love, of one living soul, thinking the one thing.And the multitude of those who trusted were of one heart and one living soul. Not one of them said that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared all things in common.THE THREAD
For God has set it in their hearts to do his will, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God reach their end.Both verses use δίδωμι (didōmi: to give): here the alliance gives its power and authority, and verse 17 says it gives its kingdom. The next verse places that handover within a limit: it lasts “until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”
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