EPH 5:25 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, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, magenta:vocative.
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 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her,

UST Each of you husbands, love your wife as much as the Messiah loved all who would believe in him. He even gave up his own life for us on the cross

BSB Husbands, love [your] wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

BLB Husbands, love the wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

AICNT Men, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her,

OEB Husbands, love your wives, just as the Christ loved the church, and gave himself for her,

WEBBE Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,

WMBB Husbands, love your wives, even as Messiah also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her,

NET Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

LSV The husbands: love your own wives, as the Christ also loved the Assembly, and gave Himself for it,

FBV Husbands, you should love your wives in the same way as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

TCNT Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

T4T Each of you husbands, love your wife as Christ loved all of us who would become believers, with the result that he willingly died for our sake,

LEB ¶ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her;

BBE Husbands, have love for your wives, even as Christ had love for the church, and gave himself for it;

Moff Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Wymth Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her;

ASV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;

DRA Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it:

YLT The husbands! love your own wives, as also the Christ did love the assembly, and did give himself for it,

Drby Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it,

RV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;

SLT Husbands, love your own wives, as also Christ loved the church, and delivered himself up for it;

Wbstr Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

KJB-1769 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

KJB-1611 Husbands, loue your wiues, euen as Christ also loued the Church, and gaue himselfe for it:
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)

Bshps Ye husbandes loue your wyues, euen as Christe also loued the Churche, and gaue hym selfe for it,
(Ye/You_all husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it,)

Gnva Husbands, loue your wiues, euen as Christ loued the Church, and gaue himselfe for it,
(Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, )

Cvdl Ye hussbandes loue youre wyues, euen as Christ loued the congregacion, and gaue himselfe for it,
(Ye/You_all hussbandes love your(pl) wives, even as Christ loved the congregation, and gave himself for it,)

TNT Husbandes love youre wyves even as Christ loved the congregacion and gave him silfe for it
(Husbandes love your(pl) wyves even as Christ loved the congregation and gave himself for it )

Wycl Men, loue ye youre wyues, as Crist louyde the chirche, and yaf hym silf for it, to make it holi;
(Men, love ye/you_all your(pl) wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, to make it holy;)

Luth Ihr Männer, liebet eure Weiber, gleichwie Christus auch geliebet hat die Gemeinde und hat sich selbst für sie gegeben,
(You(pl) men, love(s) your(pl) women, same_as Christ also loved has the Gemeinde and has itself/yourself/themselves himself/itself for/in_favour_of they/she/them given,)

ClVg Viri, diligite uxores vestras, sicut et Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, et seipsum tradidit pro ea,
(Men, he_lovese wives your, like and Christ/Messiah he_loved assembly/church, and himself he_delivered for them, )

UGNT οἱ ἄνδρες ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς;
(hoi andres agapate tas gunaikas, kathōs kai ho Ⱪristos aʸgapaʸsen taʸn ekklaʸsian, kai heauton paredōken huper autaʸs;)

SBL-GNT Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς ⸀γυναῖκας, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς,
(Hoi andres, agapate tas ⸀gunaikas, kathōs kai ho Ⱪristos aʸgapaʸsen taʸn ekklaʸsian kai heauton paredōken huper autaʸs,)

RP-GNT Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας ἑαυτῶν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς·
(Hoi andres, agapate tas gunaikas heautōn, kathōs kai ho ⱪristos aʸgapaʸsen taʸn ekklaʸsian, kai heauton paredōken huper autaʸs;)

TC-GNT Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας [fn]ἑαυτῶν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησε τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς·
(Hoi andres, agapate tas gunaikas heautōn, kathōs kai ho Ⱪristos aʸgapaʸse taʸn ekklaʸsian, kai heauton paredōken huper autaʸs; )

5:25 εαυτων ¦ — CT

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:21–33: Paul gave advice to husbands and their wives

In 4:17–5:20, Paul taught the Ephesian Christians to behave differently than pagans (people who do not know God). For the next three sections, Paul taught about how Christians should behave in their relationships in their families and at work. In this first section, he dealt with the duties of wives and husbands. He described the marriage relationship as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church.

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

Paul’s advise to wives and husbands (GW)

How a wife and a husband should live together

Paragraph 5:25–33

In the previous paragraph Paul talked about the duties that a wife has toward her husband. In this paragraph, Paul discusses the duties a husband has toward his wife.

5:25a

Husbands, love your wives,

¶ You married men, each of you must love your wife
¶ All husbands should love their wives

Husbands, love your wives: Translate this command in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

You married men, each of you should love his wife

See love, meaning 2 in the Glossary for more information.

Your translation should not suggest that Paul is giving approval of a man having more than one wife.

5:25b

just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

just as Christ loves the church and died for it
in the same way as Christ showed his love for his people, the church, by being willing to die for us^(incl) to save us.

just as Christ loved the church: The Greek words that the BSB translates as just as mean that a husband should love his wife in the same way that Christ loved the church (his people).

loved: The verb loved is in the past tense. But you may want to translate the verb “love” using the present tense “he loves the church” to avoid suggesting that he loved believers only in the past. See love, meaning 1 in the Glossary for more information.

church: The church is the group of all believers in Christ throughout the world. See how you translated church in 5:23b. See church in the Glossary for more information.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

all his followers

all his people

gave Himself up for her: The verb gave…up means that Christ gave his life for the church, that is, he died for it. See how you translated gave Himself up for (us) in 5:2b.

for her: The pronoun her refers to the church. The Greek pronoun is singular and feminine and it is translated by the English versions as her or “it.” (The BSB uses her here and in 5:26 and 5:27, all referring to the church.)

Since “the church” refers to all people who are believers in Jesus, in many languages it is more natural to use “them” instead of her. For example:

just as Christ loved his group/people and gave himself up for them

In some languages it may be best to use “us^(incl),” so that the readers do not think that Paul was not part of the church:

just as Christ loved us^(incl), his group/people, and gave his life as a sacrifice for us^(incl)

for: the word for means “for the benefit of.” Christ died for the benefit of the church (his people).

Here are some other ways to translate the phrase “for her”:

for your/their good

thinking of

in order to save us^(incl)/you

General Comment on 5:25a–b

In some languages, it is more natural to change the order of 25a–b. For example:

^25bAs Christ loved his people and died so that they would be in a good state, ^25aso you men need to love your wives.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns

Here the words himself and he refer to Christ. The word her refers to the church.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας

˓be˒_loving (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οἱ Ἄνδρες ἀγαπᾶτε τάς γυναῖκας καθώς καί ὁ Χριστός ἠγάπησεν τήν ἐκκλησίαν καί ἑαυτόν παρέδωκεν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς)

Here, the command to love implies that the husband unselfishly does what is best for the wife, unselfishly serving or giving to his wife, following the example of Christ. Alternate translation: [sacrifice yourselves for your wives]

ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οἱ Ἄνδρες ἀγαπᾶτε τάς γυναῖκας καθώς καί ὁ Χριστός ἠγάπησεν τήν ἐκκλησίαν καί ἑαυτόν παρέδωκεν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς)

Alternate translation: [allowed people to kill him]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς

Paul speaks of the assembly of believers as though she were a woman whom Jesus will marry. Alternate translation: [for us]

Parallel EPH 5:25

Section 5:21–33: Paul gave advice to husbands and their wives

Paragraph 5:25–33

5:25a

5:25b

General Comment on 5:25a–b