Scientia potentia est is perhaps better translated as "knowledge is His power", because the context of the sentence refers to the qualities of God and is imbedded in a discussion of heresies that deny the power of God: "statuuntque latiores terminos scientiae Dei quam potestatis, vel potius ejus partis potestatis Dei (nam et ipsa scientia potestas est) qua scit, quam ejus qua movet et agit: ut praesciat quaedam otiose, quae non praedestinet et praeordinet". The English translation of this section includes the following: Interpretation of the notion of power meant by Bacon must therefore take into account his distinction between the power of
Scientia potentia est Hebrew, in the Biblical Book of Proverbs (24:5): גֶּבֶר-חָכָם בַּעוֹז; וְאִישׁ-דַּעַת, מְאַמֶּץ-כֹּחַ. This was translated in the latin Vulgata as ""vir sapiens et fortis est et vir doctus robustus et validus"" and in the King James Version, the first English official edition, as "A wise man is strong, a man of knowledge increaseth strength". The first known reference of the exact phrase appeared in the Latin edition of "Leviathan" (1668; the English version had been published in 1651). This passage from Part 1 ("De Homine"), Chapter X ("De Potentia, Dignitate et Honore") occurs in a list of various attributes of