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, 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).

UST Before you trusted the Messiah, you were spiritually dead—you were unable to stop sinning.

AICNT And you, being dead in [your][fn] trespasses and sins,

2:1, your: Absent from some manuscripts. BYZ TR

OEB You yourselves were once dead because of your offences and sins.

WEBBE You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

WMBB (Same as above)

NET And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

LSV Also you—being dead in trespasses and sins,

FBV At one time you were dead in your sins and evil actions,

TCNT You were dead in the trespasses and sins

T4T Formerly, because you were habitually sinning [DOU], you were ◄spiritually dead/as unable to please God as a corpse [MET] is►.

LEB And you, _⌊although you were dead_⌋[fn][fn] in your trespasses and sins,

2:1 Literally “and you being dead”

2:1 *Here the participle (“being”) is understood as concessive

BBE And to you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins,

Moff And as with us so with you. You were dead in the trespasses and sins

Wymth To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins,

ASV And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,

DRA And you, when you were dead in your offences, and sins,

YLT Also you — being dead in the trespasses and the sins,

Drby and you, being dead in your offences and sins —

RV And you did he quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
(And you did he quicken/bring_back_to_life, when ye/you_all were dead through your trespasses and sins, )

SLT And ye being dead in faults and in sins;

Wbstr And you hath he revived , who were dead in trespasses and sins;

KJB-1769 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
(And you hath/has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; )

KJB-1611 ¶ And you hath hee quickned who were dead in trespasses, and sinnes,
(¶ And you hath/has he quickned who were dead in trespasses, and sins,)

Bshps And you that were dead in trespasses and sinnes,
(And you that were dead in trespasses and sins,)

Gnva And you hath he quickened, that were dead in trespasses and sinnes,
(And you hath/has he quickened, that were dead in trespasses and sins, )

Cvdl And quyckened you also, whan ye were deed thorow trespaces and synnes,
(And quickened you also, when ye/you_all were deed through trespaces and sins,)

TNT And hath quickened you also that were deed in treaspasse and synne
(And hath/has quickened you also that were deed in treaspasse and sin )

Wycl And whanne ye weren deed in youre giltis and synnes,
(And when ye/you_all were deed in your(pl) guiltys and sins,)

Luth Und auch euch, da ihr tot waret durch Übertretungen und Sünden,
(And also you, there you(pl)/their/her dead wait through violations and sins(n),)

ClVg Et vos, cum essetis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris,[fn]
(And you(pl), when/with wasis dead delictis and sins yours, )

2.1 Et vos, cum essetis, etc. Commemorat priora, ut in bonis humilientur, et certum sit quod si inimicis hæc data sunt, magis amicis dabuntur, quæ apostolus optat; quasi dicat: Caput est omnis Ecclesiæ et vestrum, quia vos convivificavit: cum, id est, quamvis essetis mortui. Vel nos qui credidimus, habemus spem hæreditatis, et vos, scilicet credidistis. Deus autem convivificavit, vel Jesum suscitavit, etc.

2.1 And you(pl), when/with wasis, etc. Commemorat previous, as in/into/on good humilientur, and certain be that when/but_if enemies these_things data are, more friends will_be_given, which apostle wishes; as_if let_him_say: The_head it_is everyone Assemblies/Churches and of_you, because you(pl) convivificavit: cum, that it_is, although/however wasis dead. Or us who/which credidimus, we_have hope inheritance, and you(pl), namely you_believe. God however convivificavit, or Yesus raised, etc.

UGNT καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν,
(kai humas ontas nekrous tois paraptōmasin kai tais hamartiais humōn,)

SBL-GNT Καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ⸀ὑμῶν,
(Kai humas ontas nekrous tois paraptōmasin kai tais hamartiais ⸀humōn,)

RP-GNT Καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις,
(Kai humas ontas nekrous tois paraptōmasin kai tais hamartiais,)

TC-GNT Καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασι καὶ ταῖς [fn]ἁμαρτίαις,
(Kai humas ontas nekrous tois paraptōmasi kai tais hamartiais, )

2:1 αμαρτιαις ¦ αμαρτιαις υμων CT

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:1–10: God saved us by his grace

In this section Paul explained how the power of God, which he described in 1:19–20, changed the lives of the Ephesians. 2:1–3 describes their condition before they became believers. 2:4–10 describes the new life that God gave to them. Paul stressed that God has done many things for them because he is kind, so they should not be proud.

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

Made alive in Christ (NLT)

From Death to life (GNT, CEV)

God Saved Us Because of His Great Love for Us (GW)

Because God is loving and kind he saved us^(incl)

Paragraph 2:1–3

In this paragraph, Paul described the condition of the Ephesians before they became Christians. They were spiritually “dead” because of their sins, Satan controlled them, and God was angry with them.

To begin this paragraph, a good model to follow is the GNT. The GNT starts this paragraph with the phrase “in the past” to show that Paul was talking about the former condition of the Ephesians. The CEV and NCV also begin this paragraph in the same way. Some other ways you can make this implied information clear are:

As for you, formerly you were dead

As for you, before you believed you were dead

2:1–2

The BSB and some other English versions translate 2:1–2 as one long sentence. Other versions such as the NLT and the CEV divide these verses into three sentences. You may want to divide 2:1–2 into two or three sentences as well.

2:1

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

¶ You^(plur) were like dead people because you disobeyed God and sinned.
¶ Because you often sinned. you^(plur) were spiritually dead.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins: In the Greek text, the pronoun you is emphatic. It refers to the Ephesian Christians. Try to show this emphasis in your language in a way that is natural. This sentence means “you^(plur) were dead because of your transgressions and sins.”

dead: Here the word dead refers to spiritual death, not physical death. Because of their sins, they were like dead people as far as the things of God were concerned. They could not respond to God at all. In many languages, it is better to translate this as a simile. For example:

you were like dead people

it was as if you were dead

In some languages, it may be necessary to make the point of comparison explicit. For example:

you were as unable to please God as a dead person is

trespasses and sins: These two words are similar in meaning and are a doublet. In translating these words, you have at least the following choices:

Find synonyms to translate both trespasses and sins. One way to translate trespasses is “disobedience.” For example:
because of your disobedience and sins (GNT)

Here are some other ways to translate these two words:

you sinned and fought against God (CEV)

your sins and the things you did against God (NCV)

If your language would not use doublets in this case or does not have synonyms for trespasses and sins, you can translate these two words as one concept. For example:
because of your many sins (NLT96)

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Connecting Statement:

Paul reminds the believers of their past and the way they now are before God.

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν

you_all being (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκρούς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καί ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν)

This shows how the inability of a sinful person to obey God is similar to a dead person’s inability to respond physically. Alternate translation: [you were spiritually dead, unable to do anything but sin]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν

˱in˲_the transgressions (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκρούς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καί ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν)

The words trespasses and sins have similar meanings. Paul uses them together to emphasize the greatness of the people’s sin. If your language has just one word for this, the two words can be combined. Alternate translation: [your many sins]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns