The Darby Translation DBY
New Century Version NCV
1 and *you*, being dead in your offences and sins --
1
In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God.
2 in which ye once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience:
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Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God.
3 among whom *we* also all once had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh, doing what the flesh and the thoughts willed to do, and were children, by nature, of wrath, even as the rest:
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In the past all of us lived like them, trying to please our sinful selves and doing all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God's anger because of the way we were. We were the same as all other people.
4 but God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us,
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But God's mercy is great, and he loved us very much.
5 (we too being dead in offences,) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,)
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Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God's grace.
6 and has raised [us] up together, and has made [us] sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
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And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those in Christ Jesus
7 that he might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
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so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift:
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I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 not on the principle of works, that no one might boast.
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It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it.
10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
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God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.
11 Wherefore remember that *ye*, once nations in [the] flesh, who [are] called uncircumcision by that called circumcision in [the] flesh done with the hand;
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You were not born Jewish. You are the people the Jews call "uncircumcised." Those who call you "uncircumcised" call themselves "circumcised." (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do on their bodies.)
12 that ye were at that time without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
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Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you had no part in the agreementsn with the promise that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God.
13 but now in Christ Jesus *ye* who once were afar off are become nigh by the blood of the Christ.
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But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ's death.
14 For *he* is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of enclosure,
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Christ himself is our peace. He made both Jewish people and those who are not Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them, but Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body.
15 having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace;
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The Jewish law had many commands and rules, but Christ ended that law. His purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him and in this way make peace.
16 and might reconcile both in one body to God by the cross, having by it slain the enmity;
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It was also Christ's purpose to end the hatred between the two groups, to make them into one body, and to bring them back to God. Christ did all this with his death on the cross.
17 and, coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who [were] afar off, and [the glad tidings of] peace to those [who were] nigh.
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Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away from God, and to those who were near to God.
18 For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father.
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Yes, it is through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.
19 So then ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but ye are fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God,
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Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God's holy people. You belong to God's family.
20 being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone,
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You are like a building that was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stonen in that building,
21 in whom all [the] building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord;
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and that whole building is joined together in Christ. He makes it grow and become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 in whom *ye* also are built together for a habitation of God in [the] Spirit.
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And in Christ you, too, are being built together with the Jews into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.