Bible Strands
2 Thessalonians 2:11
For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul to the Thessalonian church, in a warning about the man of lawlessness; the "them" is those who rejected the love of the truth (v. 10).
The words — ἐνέργειαν (energeian), a noun meaning "a working, operation," rendered in the BSB as the adjective "powerful" modifying delusion; it carries the sense of active, effective power at work.
The thread — Romans 1:28 has God giving people over to a depraved mind; John 12:39 states they were unable to believe; 1 Timothy 4:1 warns of deceitful spirits.
Why it lands — The verse makes God the subject who sends the delusion, forcing the reader to hold divine justice and human refusal together without collapsing one into the other.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Cross-references
- Romans 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- John 12:39 For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:
- 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
- Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will arise and deceive many.
- Psalms 81:11 But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- Ezekiel 21:29 while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you—to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.
- Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:3 For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.
- Psalms 109:17 The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.
- Matthew 24:5 For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.