A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Ephesians 1
Ephesians 1 is the opening chapter of the forty-ninth book of the Bible. The 23-verse chapter opens Paul's letter with one of the most elevated passages in the New Testament, describing the spiritual blessings believers have received in Christ, followed by a prayer for the readers.
The chapter opens with Paul's brief greeting. He identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and addresses the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.
What follows is, in the Greek, one extended sentence running from verse 3 through verse 14. In English translations it is broken into smaller sentences, but the rhetorical effect is a steady accumulation of what God has done. Believers have been blessed in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing. They were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. They were predestined to adoption as God's children through Jesus Christ. They have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of God's grace.
God has made known the mystery of his will: to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, Christ. Believers have been given an inheritance in him. When they believed the gospel, they were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing the inheritance to come.
The chapter then turns to prayer. Paul has heard of the Ephesians' faith and love and gives constant thanks for them. He prays that God will give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so they may know him better. He asks that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened to know the hope of their calling, the riches of their inheritance, and the incomparably great power available to them, the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at God's right hand far above every other authority.
Verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Verse 2. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
Verse 4. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
Verse 5. He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Verse 6. to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
Verse 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
Verse 8. that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Verse 9. And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
Verse 10. as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
Verse 11. In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Verse 12. in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.
Verse 13. And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
Verse 14. who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.
Verse 15. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
Verse 16. I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
Verse 17. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
Verse 18. I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,
Verse 19. and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
Verse 20. which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,
Verse 21. far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Verse 22. And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,
Verse 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Last updated: