The established government or authority.
The established government or authority.
This phrase derives from the Bible, Romans 13 – first appearing in print in English in Tyndale’s Bible, 1526:
13:1 1 Let every soule submit him selfe vnto the auctorite of ye hyer powers. For there is no power but of God.
13:2 The powers that be are ordeyned of God. Whosoever therfore resysteth power resisteth the ordinaunce of God. And they that resist shall receave to the selfe damnacio.
Trend of the powers that be in printed material over time
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