Take the 2-minute tour ×

Revelation 4:8 refers to God as κύριος, ὁ θεός, ὁ παντοκράτωρ, generally rendered as 'Lord God Almighty.' I'm interested in the last word: ὁ παντοκράτωρ. Would this have connoted omnipotence as the English rendering "Almighty" does?

If it's a compound word, I'm reasonably certain the first half of the word, παντο, means "all." But what does κράτωρ mean? Is παντοκράτωρ a word used outside of the New Testament at all? I'm curious too, for instance, how the LXX translates El-Shaddai, since that is typically rendered in modern English translations as "The Almighty" as well. Are these related?

Can anyone shed light on the meaning of this word in Revelation?

share|improve this question
Interesting note on this: there was a sport in the ancient Greek Olympics called pankration, which is basically the same word. This sport was a no-holds-barred fight often resulting in the death of one of the participants. Kind of like Mixed Martial Arts, only much more brutal. Nice to have that guy on your side, don't you think? –  Fraser Orr Nov 12 '12 at 15:46

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The Greek (root) word kratos means "power". So yes, "all powerful" or "almighty" would be a reasonable translation.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


