powers that be

Meaning

Noun

• The holders of power or the authorities in a given situation, especially if seen as being faceless or unreasonably bureaucratic.

Origin

• 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 ("the existing authorities"). “Be” is the archaic third-person plural present indicative form, equivalent to the modern “are”, not a subjunctive.