Revelation 13:5

My Notes

What Does Revelation 13:5 Mean?

Revelation 13:5 describes the beast's power with a phrase that appears twice and changes everything: "there was given." "There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies" — edothē autō stoma laloun megala kai blasphēmias. The mouth was given. The authority to blaspheme was permitted. "And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months" — kai edothē autō exousia poiēsai mēnas tessarakonta duo. The power was given. The time was bounded.

The passive voice — edothē, was given — is the theological center of the verse. The beast doesn't self-generate power. It receives it. From whom? The immediate context suggests the dragon (Satan, 13:2, 4). But the deeper theological framework of Revelation shows that even Satan operates under divine permission (as in Job 1-2). The beast's authority is derivative, delegated, and leased — not owned.

"Forty and two months" — the same time signature as the trampling of the holy city (11:2), the prophesying of the two witnesses (11:3), and the woman's protection in the wilderness (12:6, 14). Three and a half years — the biblical shorthand for a bounded season of tribulation. The beast's power has a time limit. It comes with an expiration date stamped on it by a God who controls the calendar even when the beast controls the stage.

The "great things" (megala) the beast speaks are impressive, authoritative-sounding pronouncements — combined with blasphemies. The mixture is the danger: power that sounds authoritative while actively defying God.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What 'beast' in your life — what overwhelming power or system — feels unstoppable right now?
• 2.How does knowing that even the beast's power was 'given' — permitted, bounded, temporary — change your fear?
• 3.What does the forty-two-month time limit tell you about God's sovereignty over evil?
• 4.How do you endure when the 'great things and blasphemies' are at their loudest?

Devotional

"There was given." Those three words change everything about how you read this verse — and how you face the powers that terrify you.

The beast has a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. The beast has power to operate for forty-two months. But the beast didn't create that mouth or that power. It was given. Permitted. Allotted. The most terrifying entity in the book of Revelation operates on borrowed authority with an expiration date.

Forty-two months. Not forever. Not "until the beast decides to stop." A specific, bounded duration set by someone above the beast. The power is real — people worship it, armies follow it, the world marvels at it. But it's running on a clock it didn't set, using authority it didn't generate, speaking with a mouth it was given.

That's the truth underneath every terrifying power you face. The system that seems all-powerful. The situation that seems permanent. The evil that seems unstoppable. It was given — which means it can be taken back. It has a time limit — which means it will end. The beast on the stage is loud, impressive, and genuinely dangerous. But the God controlling the calendar is the One who wrote "forty-two months" on the lease.

When the great things and the blasphemies are loudest — when the power seems unchallengeable and the mouth seems unstoppable — remember the passive voice. It was given. And what was given can be revoked. The beast doesn't know when the forty-two months expire. God does.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture