Ephesians 1; Ephesians 2; Ephesians 3; Ephesians 4; Ephesians 5; Ephesians 6

Ephesians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will: To the saints and believers in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ;

4 for He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love

5 He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will,

6 to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

8 that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him

10 for the administration) of the days of fulfillment-to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him.

11 In Him we were also made His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will,

12 so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory.

13 In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation-in Him when you believed-were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

14 He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.

15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

17 [I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

18 [I pray] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.

20 He demonstrated [this power] in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens-

21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church,

23 which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.

Ephesians 2

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

2 in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also.

4 But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us,

5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved!

6 He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in [His] kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift-

9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

10 For we are His creation-created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh-called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised," done by hand in the flesh.

12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.

14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh,

15 He did away with the law of the commandments in regulations, so that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

16 [He did this so] that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross and put the hostility to death by it.

17 When [Christ] came, He proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

21 The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,

22 in whom you also are being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.

Ephesians 3

1 For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles-

2 you have heard, haven't you, about the administration of God's grace that He gave to me for you?

3 The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.

4 By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah.

5 This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:

6 the Gentiles are co-heirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

7 I was made a servant of this [gospel] by the gift of God's grace that was given to me by the working of His power.

8 This grace was given to me-the least of all the saints!-to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,

9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

10 This is so that God's multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.

11 This is according to the purpose of the ages, which He made in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord,

12 in whom we have boldness, access, and confidence through faith in Him.

13 So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

16 [I pray] that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. [I pray that] you, being rooted and firmly established in love,

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth [of God's love],

19 and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think-according to the power that works in you-

21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 4

1 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love,

3 diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds [us].

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah's gift.

8 For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people.

9 But what does "He ascended" mean except that He descended to the lower parts of the earth?

10 The One who descended is the same as the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.

11 And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

12 for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, [growing] into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ's fullness.

14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head-Christ.

16 From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.

17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts.

18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

20 But that is not how you learned about the Messiah,

21 assuming you heard Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus:

22 you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires;

23 you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds;

24 you put on the new man, the one created according to God's [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth.

25 Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.

26 Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and don't give the Devil an opportunity.

28 The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.

29 No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear.

30 And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption.

31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness.

32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Ephesians 5

1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.

2 And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.

4 And coarse and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.

5 For know and recognize this: no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things God's wrath is coming on the disobedient.

7 Therefore, do not become their partners.

8 For you were once darkness, but now [you are] light in the Lord. walk as children of light-

9 for the fruit of the light [results] in all goodness, righteousness, and truth-

10 discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.

11 Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead, expose them.

12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.

13 Everything exposed by the light is made clear,

14 for what makes everything clear is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and the Messiah will shine on you.

15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk-not as unwise people but as wise-

16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

17 So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

18 And don't get drunk with wine, which [leads to] reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit:

19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord in your heart,

20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord,

23 for the husband is head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.

24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives should [submit] to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her,

26 to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word.

27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless.

28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

29 For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

30 since we are members of His body.

31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Ephesians 6

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.

2 Honor your father and mother -which is the first commandment with a promise-

3 that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.

4 And fathers, don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

5 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ.

6 Don't [work only] while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God's will from your heart.

7 Render service with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men,

8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.

9 And masters, treat them the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their and your Master is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.

10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.

11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.

12 For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

13 This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,

15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.

16 In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word.

18 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

19 Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should.

21 Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you also may know how I am and what I'm doing.

22 I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.

23 Peace to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.