EPH 1:17 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT so that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

UST I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, the glorious Father, will give you his Spirit to make you wise and to reveal God to you so that you can continually know him better.

BSB 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.

BLB that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

AICNT that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

OEB My prayer is that the God of Jesus Christ our Lord, the all-glorious Father, may inspire you with wisdom and true insight through a fuller knowledge of himself;

WEBBE that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

WMBB that the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,

NET I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,

LSV that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the recognition of Him,

FBV I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom to see and know him as he really is.

TCNT I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him.

T4T I pray that God, who is the glorious/wonderful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may cause his Spirit to make you wise, and that his Spirit will reveal God to you so that you may fully know him.

LEB that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, _⌊the glorious Father_⌋[fn],[fn] may give you a spirit of wisdom[fn] and revelation in the knowledge of him

1:17 Literally “the Father of glory”

1:17 *Here “glorious” is an attributive genitive

1:17 *Or “spiritual wisdom” (with “wisdom” is an attributive genitive)

BBE That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

Moff May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the knowledge of himself,

Wymth For I always beseech the God of our Lord Jesus Christ—the Father most glorious—to give you a spirit of wisdom and penetration through an intimate knowledge of Him,

ASV that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

DRA That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of him:

YLT that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the recognition of him,

Drby that the [fn]God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you [the] spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of him,

1.17 Elohim

RV that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

SLT That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in his knowledge:

Wbstr That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

KJB-1769 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

KJB-1611 That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of glorie, may giue vnto you the Spirit of wisedome and reuelation [fn]in the knowledge of him:
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation and footnotes)

1:17 Or, for the acknowledgment.

Bshps That the God of our Lorde Iesus Christe, the father of glorie, may geue vnto you the spirite of wisdome and reuelation, in the knowledge of hym:
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Gnva That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ, that Father of glory, might giue vnto you the Spirit of wisedome, and reuelation through the acknowledging of him,
(That the God of our Lord Yesus/Yeshua Christ, that Father of glory, might give unto you the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation through the acknowledging of him, )

Cvdl that ye God of oure LORDE Iesus Christ, the father of glory maye geue vnto you the sprete of wyssdome, and open vnto you the knowlege of himselfe,
(that ye/you_all God of our LORD Yesus/Yeshua Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom, and open unto you the knowledge of himself,)

TNT that the God of oure lorde Iesus Christ and the father of glory myght geve vnto you the sprete of wisdome and open to you the knowledge of him silfe
(that the God of our lord Yesus/Yeshua Christ and the father of glory might give unto you the spirit of wisdom and open to you the knowledge of himself )

Wycl that God of oure Lord Jhesu Crist, the fadir of glorie, yyue to you the spirit of wisdom and of reuelacioun, in to the knowyng of hym;
(that God of our Lord Yhesu Christ, the father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in to the knowing of him;)

Luth daß der GOtt unsers HErr’s JEsu Christi, der Vater der Herrlichkeit, gebe euch den Geist der Weisheit und der Offenbarung zu seiner selbst Erkenntnis
(that the/of_the God ours LORD’s Yesu Christi, the/of_the father the/of_the glory/splendour, give you the spirit the/of_the wise_(people) and the/of_the revelation to/for his himself/itself knowledge)

ClVg ut Deus Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Pater gloriæ, det vobis spiritum sapientiæ et revelationis in agnitione ejus,[fn]
(as God Master our Yesu Christi, Pater of_glory, give to_you(pl) spirit of_wisdom and revelationis in/into/on lambtione his, )

1.17 Ut Deus, etc. Quasi diceret: Ad impetrandum non obtendo merita, sed quod Deus et Pater Christi, etc.

1.17 As God, etc. As_if would_say: To impetrandum not/no obtendo merits, but that God and Pater Christi, etc.

UGNT ἵνα ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ Πατὴρ τῆς δόξης, δώῃ ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ,
(hina ho Theos tou Kuriou haʸmōn, Yaʸsou Ⱪristou, ho Pataʸr taʸs doxaʸs, dōaʸ humin pneuma sofias kai apokalupseōs, en epignōsei autou,)

SBL-GNT ἵνα ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης, δώῃ ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ,
(hina ho theos tou kuriou haʸmōn Yaʸsou Ⱪristou, ho pataʸr taʸs doxaʸs, dōaʸ humin pneuma sofias kai apokalupseōs en epignōsei autou,)

RP-GNT ἵνα ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης, δῴη ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ·
(hina ho theos tou kuriou haʸmōn Yaʸsou ⱪristou, ho pataʸr taʸs doxaʸs, dōaʸ humin pneuma sofias kai apokalupseōs, en epignōsei autou;)

TC-GNT ἵνα ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης, δῴη ὑμῖν πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως, ἐν ἐπιγνώσει αὐτοῦ·
(hina ho Theos tou Kuriou haʸmōn Yaʸsou Ⱪristou, ho pataʸr taʸs doxaʸs, dōaʸ humin pneuma sofias kai apokalupseōs, en epignōsei autou; )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, orange:accents differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:15–23: Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus

Paul started the next section by thanking God for the faith and love of the Christians in Ephesus. Then he prayed that they might know God better. Specifically, he prayed that they might know the good things that they can hope for in the future, the blessings that God has promised to his people and the greatness of God’s power. This is the power that raised Jesus from death and put him in the place of highest honor in heaven.

In Greek this whole section is one very long sentence. You will probably need to break it into several shorter sentences in your translation.

Here are some other examples for a heading for this section:

Paul’s prayer (GNT, CEV, NCV)

Paul’s prayer for spiritual wisdom (NLT)

Thanksgiving and prayer (NIV)

1:17a

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,

and I pray that the magnificent Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Father and/he has great glory/magnificence.

that: The word that here introduces what Paul prayed for. Many English versions start a new sentence here and add the words “I ask” or “I pray” because they are implied from 1:16. For example:

I keep asking that (NIV)

the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father: These two phrases form a parallelism. They both refer to God the Father. This should be clear in your translation. See the second meaning line of the Display for ways you can make this explicit.

the glorious Father: A literal English translation of the Greek is “Father of glory.”

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the Father who has great glory

the Father who is very great

the Father who is wonderful/majestic

See how you translated “glorious grace” in 1:6a and “glory” in 1:12b and 1:14c. Also see glory, Meaning 4 in the Glossary for more information.

1:17b

may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation

will give you spiritual wisdom and reveal himself to you,
I ask him to make you spiritually wise and reveal himself to you,

a spirit of wisdom: There are several ways to interpret the word spirit here. It may refer to:

the spirit of man. According to this interpretation, the phrase spirit of wisdom means “spiritual wisdom” or “thinking in a wise way.” For example:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…may give you spiritual wisdom…. (NET) (BSB, RSV, NASB, NET, KJV, GW, NCV, NJB, NLT, NCV, REB, JBP, ESV)
the Holy Spirit. For example:
I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand… (CEV) (NIV, GNT, CEV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and the majority of English translations. In some languages, it will be more natural to translate spirit of wisdom as “spiritually wise.”

and revelation: The word revelation generally refers to something that has been made known. In this context it refers to God making himself known to people. In some languages, it will be more natural to translate the noun revelation as the verb “reveal.” Paul prayed that God would reveal himself to the Ephesian Christians. For example:

reveal God to you (GNT)

1:17c

in your knowledge of Him.

in order that you will know him better.
so that you will grow/increase in your knowledge of God.

in your knowledge of Him: In this context, the pronoun Him refers to God the Father. If this is not clear in your translation, you may want to make it explicit. You can say for example:

in your knowledge of God

as it regards the way that you know God

General Comment on 1:17

You may need to translate this verse as several sentences, as in the second meaning line of the Display.

Parallel EPH 1:17

Section 1:15–23: Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus

1:17a

1:17b

1:17c

General Comment on 1:17