EPH 1:5 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=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
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 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

UST he decided long ago to adopt us as his own children by means of Jesus the Messiah. It pleased him to do this, so he did what he wanted to do.

BLB having predestined us for divine adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

AICNT having predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

OEB From the first he destined us, in his goodwill towards us, to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ,

WEBBE having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

WMBB having predestined us for adoption as children through Yeshua the Messiah to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

NET He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will –

LSV having foreordained us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

FBV He decided in advance to adopt us as his children, working through Jesus Christ to bring us to himself. He was happy to do this because this is what he wanted.

TCNT He foreordained us for adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,

T4T he decided long ago that he would adopt us to be as though we were his own children because of what Jesus Christ has done. He decided to do that because it pleased him to do that.

LEB having predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,

BBE As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,

Moff destining us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ. Such was the purpose of his will,

Wymth For He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ—such being His gracious will and pleasure—

ASV having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

DRA Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will:

YLT having foreordained us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Drby having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

RV having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

SLT Having determined us beforehand for adoption as a son by Jesus Christ to him, according to benevolence of his will,

Wbstr Having predestinated us to the adoption of children to himself by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,

KJB-1769 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

KJB-1611 Hauing predestinated vs vnto the adoption of children by Iesus Christ to himselfe, according to the good pleasure of his will:
(Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Yesus/Yeshua Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will:)

Bshps Who hath predestinate vs into the adoption of childre, by Iesus Christ vnto hym selfe, according to the good pleasure of his wyll:
(Who hath/has predestinate us into the adoption of children, by Yesus/Yeshua Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will:)

Gnva Who hath predestinate vs, to be adopted through Iesus Christ in him selfe, according to the good pleasure of his will,
(Who hath/has predestinate us, to be adopted through Yesus/Yeshua Christ in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, )

Cvdl & ordeyned vs before, to receaue vs as children thorow Iesus Christ, acordinge to the pleasure of his will,
(and ordained us before, to receive us as children through Yesus/Yeshua Christ, according to the pleasure of his will,)

TNT And ordeyned vs before thorow Iesus Christ to be heyres vnto him silfe accordinge to the pleasure of his will
(And ordained us before through Yesus/Yeshua Christ to be heyres unto himself according to the pleasure of his will )

Wycl Which hath bifor ordeyned vs in to adopcioun of sones bi Jhesu Crist in to hym, bi the purpos of his wille,
(Which hath/has before ordained us in to adopcioun of sons by Yhesu Christ in to him, by the purpos of his will,)

Luth und hat uns verordnet zur Kindschaft gegen ihn selbst durch JEsum Christum, nach dem Wohlgefallen seines Willens,
(and has us/to_us/ourselves prescribed to/for childschaft to/against him/it himself/itself through Yesum Christum, after to_him pleasure his Wills,)

ClVg Qui prædestinavit nos in adoptionem filiorum per Jesum Christum in ipsum: secundum propositum voluntatis suæ,[fn]
(Who beforedestinavit us in/into/on adoptionem of_children through Yesus Christ/Messiah in/into/on him: after/second propositum of_will his/her_own, )

1.5 Qui prædestinavit. Posita prædestinatione, quæ pertinet ad justitiam et sanctitatem vitæ præsentis, ponitur hic alia pertinens ad vitam æternam, cujus effectum supra notavit.

1.5 Who beforedestinavit. Posita beforedestinatione, which belongs to justice and sanctitatem of_life presents, is_placed this/here other pertinens to life eternal, whose effectum above notevit.

UGNT προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ,
(proorisas haʸmas eis huiothesian dia Yaʸsou Ⱪristou eis auton, kata taʸn eudokian tou thelaʸmatos autou,)

SBL-GNT προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ,
(proorisas haʸmas eis huiothesian dia Yaʸsou Ⱪristou eis auton, kata taʸn eudokian tou thelaʸmatos autou,)

RP-GNT προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ,
(proorisas haʸmas eis huiothesian dia Yaʸsou ⱪristou eis auton, kata taʸn eudokian tou thelaʸmatos autou,)

TC-GNT προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ,
(proorisas haʸmas eis huiothesian dia Yaʸsou Ⱪristou eis auton, kata taʸn eudokian tou thelaʸmatos autou, )

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:3–14: God has done good things for us by means of Christ

Paul praised God for all the blessings that come to his people through Christ. Before God created the world, he chose us and then he redeemed us through Christ. God also revealed his plan to us. His plan is to unite everything in the world in the future with Christ as the Head. To show that we are his people, God gave us the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the guarantee that God will give us all the good things he has promised us.

In Greek, 1:3–14 is all one long sentence. Most translations break this sentence into several shorter sentences. In your translation, you can use a few long sentences or many shorter sentences, whichever sounds best.

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

Spiritual blessings in Christ

God blesses us because we are joined to Christ

Paragraph 1:3–6

Paul praised God for all the blessings that come to us believers through Christ. Long ago before God created the world, he chose us to be his people, because he wanted to adopt us as his children. He did all this because he loved us, because he wanted to show us favor (help us), in order that we might become holy people.

1:5a

He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ,

he had decided before hand that he would adopt us as his children through Jesus Christ.
he decided long ago that he would make us his children by means of what Jesus Christ has done.

He predestined us: The verb predestined means “to decide something beforehand” or “to determine ahead of time what one plans to do.” The pronoun He refers to “God.”

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

God had already decided (GNT)

God decided in advance (NLT)

for adoption as His sons: This is a passive. If it would be more natural in your language to make this active, you can say:

God would adopt us as His children

In some languages, it is redundant or even confusing to include the phrase as His sons along with the noun adoption. If this is the case in your language, you can simply say:

God would adopt us

for adoption: The word adoption means “to make someone your child” or “to accept another child into your family as your own.”

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

to be his sons (RSV)

make us his children (GNT)

through Jesus Christ: The phrase through Jesus Christ tells how God made us his children. He did it by means of (or because of) what Jesus Christ has done. In some languages, there are special ways to express this, for example:

by the hand of Jesus Christ

because of what Jesus Christ did

1:5b

according to the good pleasure of His will,

That was what God wanted and what pleased him,
God did this because it delighted him, and he wanted to do it

according to the good pleasure of His will: The Greek phrase that the BSB literally translates as according to the good pleasure of His will uses the word pleasure emphasizes the delight God felt in making his decision in 1:5a.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

this was his pleasure and purpose (GNT)

that was what he wanted and what pleased him (NCV)

In some languages it is good to begin a new sentence here with some introduction, for example:

God did this according to the good pleasure of His will…

Also in many languages the translation will be clearer if you change the nouns pleasure and will into verbs, for example:

because it pleased him and this is what he wanted to do

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns

προορίσας & αὐτόν & αὐτοῦ

˓having˒_predetermined & himself & ˱of˲_him

The words “he,” “himself,” and “his” refer to God.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν

˓having˒_predetermined (Some words not found in SR-GNT: προορίσας ἡμάς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν κατά τήν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ)

The word us refers to Paul, the Ephesian church, and all believers in Christ. Alternate translation: [God planned long ago to adopt us]

προορίσας ἡμᾶς

Alternate translation: [God chose us ahead of time] or [God chose us long ago]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

εἰς υἱοθεσίαν

for adoption_as_sons

Here, adoption is a metaphor that refers to becoming part of God’s family. Alternate translation: [to become his children]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: προορίσας ἡμάς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν κατά τήν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ)

Paul assumes that his readers will understand that God brought believers into his family by the work of Jesus Christ. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers.

Parallel EPH 1:5

Section 1:3–14: God has done good things for us by means of Christ

Paragraph 1:3–6

1:5a

1:5b