Romans 13:1

American Standard Version (1901)

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the [powers] that be are ordained of God.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις ὑποτασσέσθω. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐξουσία εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ: αἱ δὲ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τεταγμέναι εἰσίν.

Transliteration

Every psychē to exousiais hyperechousais let be hypotassesthō. Not gar is exousia except from Theou: the de being exousiai by the Theou tetagmenai are.

Grammar Details

• *psychē*: nominative, feminine, singular - soul/life
• *exousiais*: dative, feminine, plural - authorities/powers
• *hyperechousais*: present active participle, dative, feminine, plural - higher/superior
• *hypotassesthō*: present middle/passive imperative, 3rd singular - let be subject to
• *gar*: postpositive conjunction - for/because
• *exousia*: nominative, feminine, singular - authority/power
• *Theou*: genitive, masculine, singular - of God
• *de*: postpositive conjunction - but/and/now
• *exousiai*: nominative, feminine, plural - authorities/powers
• *tetagmenai*: perfect passive participle, nominative, feminine, plural - having been appointed/ordered

Word Meanings

• *psychē*: soul/person/life/being
• *exousia*: authority/power/jurisdiction/right
• *hyperechousais*: higher/superior/eminent/governing
• *hypotassesthō*: be subject to/submit to/obey
• *tetagmenai*: appointed/ordained/established/arranged

Referenced Verses

• Titus 3:1 : 1 Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work,
• 1 Pet 2:13-17 : 13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
• John 19:11 : 11 Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin.
• Eph 5:21 : 21 subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
• Matt 6:13 : 13 And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil [one] .
• 2 Pet 2:10-11 : 10 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord.
• Jude 1:8 : 8 Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, and rail at dignities.
• Prov 8:15-16 : 15 By me kings reign, And princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, And nobles, [even] all the judges of the earth.
• Dan 2:21 : 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding;
• Dan 4:32 : 32 and thou shalt be driven from men; and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times shall pass over thee; until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
• Dan 5:18-23 : 18 O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty: 19 and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 21 and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will. 22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest all this, 23 but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine from them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.
• Jer 27:5-8 : 5 I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. 6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman. 8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith Jehovah, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
• 1 Chr 28:4-5 : 4 Howbeit Jehovah, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be prince; and in the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel; 5 And of all my sons (for Jehovah hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel.
• Ps 62:11 : 11 God hath spoken once, Twice have I heard this, That power belongeth unto God.
• Rev 1:5 : 5 and from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood;
• Rev 17:14 : 14 These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they [also shall overcome] that are with him, called and chosen and faithful.
• Rev 19:16 : 16 And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KINGS OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
• Deut 17:12 : 12 And the man that doeth presumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that standeth to minister there before Jehovah thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
• 1 Sam 2:8 : 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, And inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, And he hath set the world upon them.