Revelation 13:4
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like to the beast? who is able to make war with him?
American King James Version (AKJV)
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like to the beast? who is able to make war with him?
American Standard Version (ASV)
and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And they gave worship to the dragon, because he gave authority to the beast; and worshipping the beast, they said, Who is like the beast? and who is able to go to war with him?
Webster's Revision
And they worshiped the dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? who is able to make war with him?
World English Bible
They worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
English Revised Version (ERV)
and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? and who is able to war with him?
Definitions for Revelation 13:4
Clarke's Revelation 13:4 Bible Commentary
And they worshipped the dragon - Worshipping the dragon here evidently means the voluntary religious subjection of the members of the Latin Church to the revived western empire, because of the eminent part it has taken in the support of their faith.
And they worshipped the beast - Not only the dragon or revived western empire was worshipped; the beast, the whole Latin empire, is a partaker in the adoration. The manner in which it is worshipped consists in the subjects of it: -
Saying, Who is like unto the beast? - Is it not the only holy power in the universe? Is it possible for any person not a subject of it to be saved?
Who is able to make war with him? - Can any nation successfully fight with it? Is not the Roman empire, which is its principal bulwark, invictissimum, most invincible? Invictissimus, most invincible, was the peculiar attribute of the emperors of Germany. See modern Universal History, vol. xxxii., p. 197.
Barnes's Revelation 13:4 Bible Commentary
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast - See the notes at Revelation 12:3; Revelation 13:2. That is, they in fact worshipped him. The word "worship" - προσκυνέω proskuneō - is not always, however, used in a religious sense. It means, properly, "to kiss"; to kiss toward anyone; that is, to kiss his own hand and to extend it toward a person, in token of respect and homage (Robinson, Lexicon). Compare Job 31:27. Then it means to show respect to one who is our superior; to kings and princes; to parents; and pre-eminently to God. See the notes on Matthew 2:2. The word may be used here to mean that homage or reverence, as to a higher power, was rendered to the "dragon"; not strictly that he was openly worshipped in a religious sense as God. Can anyone doubt that this was the case under papal Rome; that the power which was set up under that entire domination, civil and ecclesiastical, was such as Satan approved, and such as he sought to have established on the earth? And can anyone doubt that the homage thus rendered, so contrary to the law of God, and so much in derogation of his claims, was in fact homage rendered to this presiding spirit of evil?
And they worshipped the beast - That is, they did it, as is immediately specified, by saying that he was "incomparable" and "invincible"; in other words, that he was superior to all others, and that he was almighty. For the fulfillment of this, see the notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
Who is like unto the beast? - That is, he is to be regarded as unequalled and as supreme. This was, in fact, ascribing honors to him which belonged only to God; and this was the manner in which that civil and secular power was regarded in the period here supposed to be referred to. It was the policy of rulers and princes in those times to augment in every way possible the respect in which they were held; to maintain that they were the vicegerents of heaven; to claim for themselves sacredness of character and of person; and to secure from the people a degree of reverence which was in fact idolatrous. Never was this more marked than in the times when the papacy had the ascendency, for it was its policy to promote reverence for the power that sustained itself, and to secure for itself the idolatrous veneration of the people.
Who is able to make war with him? - That is, he is invincible. They thus attributed to him omnipotence - an attribute belonging only to God. This found a fulfillment in the honor shown to the civil authority which sustained the papacy; for the policy was to impress the public mind with the belief that that power was invincible. In fact, it was so regarded. Nothing was able to resist that absolute despotism; and the authority of princes and rulers that were allied with the papal rule was of the most absolute kind, and the subjugation of the world was complete. There was no civil, as there was no religious liberty; and the whole arrangement was so ordered as to subdue the world to an absolute and uncontrollable power.
Wesley's Revelation 13:4 Bible Commentary
13:4 And they worshipped the dragon — Even in worshipping the beast, although they knew it not.
And worshipped the wild beast — Paying him such honour as was not paid to any merely secular potentate. That very title, "Our most holy Lord," was never given to any other monarch on earth.
Saying, Who is like the wild beast — "Who is like him?" is a peculiar attribute of God; but that this is constantly attributed to the beast, the books of all his adherents show.