Revelation 13:16

The Greek verb δῶσιν is in the third person plural form of the aorist active subjunctive of δίδωμι (they might give). Cf. Perseus Morphology on δῶσιν.

It is a known and obvious word in the Greek manuscripts. But how was it translated?

• "to receive" NIV
• "to be given" NLT
• "causes to be marked" ESV
• "to receive" Berean Standard Bible
• "that it should give" Berean Literal Bible
• "to receive" KJV
• "to be given" NASB
• "that there be given" ASV
• "to obtain" NET Bible
• "it may give" Literal Standard Version
• "it may give" Young's Literal Translation
• "he should give" Julia Smith's Literal Translation
• "to receave" Tyndale Bible of 1526

We only found one little known translation that gave the true rendering:

"And he causes all, small and great, both rich and poor, both free and bond, that they may give them a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead:"

(The Godbey New Testament, emp. add.)

The Godbey New Testament is a translation of the New Testament by William Baxter Godbey (1833–1920), an American Methodist minister and theologian. He spent 20 years reading through the Tichendorf Greek New Testament before making his own translation. In spite of the fact of getting a great deal of the words more true to the original Greek than most translations, it still left a great many things out, and the "Holy King James Authorized Version" was still the only acceptable text of the day. The Godbey New Testament faded into obscurity, and became all but forgotten.