Etymology

powers that be

Today it means: The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic. Full definition →

Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromαἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι“the existing authorities”
  2. English todaypowers that be

After Romans 13:1 in the Tyndale Bible and the King James Version. The phrase is a translation of the Ancient Greek αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι (hai oûsai exousíai, “the existing authorities”). The verb be is the archaic third-person plural present indicative form, equivalent to the modern are, and not a subjunctive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.