Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Eph 5 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33
OET (OET-LV) And not be_being_drunk with_wine, in which is intemperance, but be_being_filled with the_spirit,
OET (OET-RV) And don’t get drunk on alcohol because that’s excessive. Instead, be filled with God’s spirit,
In chapter 5, Paul continued with the subject of Christian behavior, which he had begun in the last section of chapter 4. So it is not necessary to start a new section here. One reason to start a new section here is to help the reader, as the previous section is already long. Some English versions begin a new section at 5:1 (BSB, GNT, NLT, NET, GW, NCV, ESV, NASB, NKJV), and some do not (NIV, RSV, NRSV, NJB, CEV, REB, KJV). You may want to consult your national translation and follow their example.
In this section, Paul exhorted the Christians to imitate God and avoid the sins of the pagan people surrounding them.
Here are some other examples for a heading for this section:
Living in the light (GNT, NLT, NCV)
Imitate God (GW)
Do not get drunk on wine,
¶ Do not get drunk with wine,
¶ Do not drink so much alcoholic drink that you get drunk,
Do not get drunk on wine: Paul used the word wine here but Paul’s main point is that we should not get drunk. His main point is not whether it is wine or beer or something else that we drink that causes us to get drunk. (Note also that Paul did not forbid his readers to drink any wine at all. Wine was a common drink in Paul’s time.)
In some languages, it might be better to say:
Do not drink intoxicating drinks to get drunk
don’t give your heart to getting drunk
which leads to reckless indiscretion.
because getting drunk causes people to behave in a wild, uncontrolled way.
because then you will indulge in shameless immorality.
which leads to reckless indiscretion: Paul is explaining here why believers should not get drunk. The result of continuing to get drunk is uncontrolled behavior and a ruined life.
reckless indiscretion: The word that the BSB translates as reckless indiscretion means “uncontrolled behavior that spoils a person’s life.” In your translation you can focus either on the “uncontrolled behavior,” or on “the ruin” that it causes.
Here are some examples focusing on uncontrolled behavior:
which leads to wild living (GW)
getting drunk makes people act in wild, reckless ways
Some examples focusing on the result of a ruined life:
because that will ruin your life (NLT)
getting drunk will lead you to act in ways that will spoil/ruin your life
Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Instead, allow the Holy Spirit to control you.
But rather, always let the Holy Spirit fill you with his power.
Instead: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as Instead shows a contrast between 5:18a–b and 5:18c.
Here are some other ways to translate this conjunction:
but (NET)
rather
But rather
Translate it in a way that is natural in your language.
be filled with the Spirit: The word filled is a figure of speech. If a person drinks a lot of wine, it will control him and cause him to behave in unacceptable ways. In the same way, we should let the Holy Spirit “fill” us and control us and tell us what to do. If we let the Holy Spirit control us, our behavior will be pleasing to God.
Here is one way to translate this:
let the Holy Spirit fill and control you (NLT96)
In some languages it may be more natural to say this:
Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with his power.
In others languages it is better not to use the word “fill” at all, but to translate the meaning:
Let the Holy Spirit control/rule you.
You should translate be filled with the Spirit in a way that is natural in your language.
καὶ μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί μή μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστίν ἀσωτία ἀλλά πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι)
Paul ends his instructions on how all believers should live. Alternate translation: [You should not get drunk from drinking wine]
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία
in which with (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί μή μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστίν ἀσωτία ἀλλά πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea behind the word recklessness, you could express the same idea with a verbal form. Alternate translation: [which leads to reckless behavior] or [because that will ruin you]
ἀλλὰ πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί μή μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστίν ἀσωτία ἀλλά πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι)
Alternate translation: [Instead, you should be controlled by the Holy Spirit]
Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast
ἀλλὰ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί μή μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐστίν ἀσωτία ἀλλά πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι)
The connecting word Instead introduces a contrast relationship. Being drunk is in contrast to being filled with the Spirit.
5:18 The Holy Spirit, not wine, should dominate believers’ lives (see Prov 23:29-35; cp. Acts 2:15-18).
• be filled: The grammar here suggests that believers’ lives are to be continuously filled with and governed by the Holy Spirit.
OET (OET-LV) And not be_being_drunk with_wine, in which is intemperance, but be_being_filled with the_spirit,
OET (OET-RV) And don’t get drunk on alcohol because that’s excessive. Instead, be filled with God’s spirit,
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.