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ParallelVerse GENEXOLEVNUMDEUJOBJOSJDGRUTH1 SAM2 SAMPSAAMOSHOS1 KI2 KI1 CHR2 CHRPROVECCSNGJOELMICISAZEPHABJERLAMYNA (JNA)NAHOBADANEZEEZRAESTNEHHAGZECMALLAOGESLESESGDNG2 PSTOBJDTWISSIRBARLJEPAZSUSBELMAN1 MAC2 MAC3 MAC4 MACYHN (JHN)MARKMATLUKEACTsYAC (JAM)GAL1 TH2 TH1 COR2 CORROMCOLPHMEPHPHP1 TIMTIT1 PET2 PET2 TIMHEBYUD (JUD)1 YHN (1 JHN)2 YHN (2 JHN)3 YHN (3 JHN)REV

Eph IntroC1C2C3C4C5C6

Eph 5 V1V2V3V4V5V6V7V8V9V10V11V12V13V14V15V16V17V18V19V20V21V22V23V24V25V27V28V29V30V31V32V33

Parallel EPH 5:26

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.

BI Eph 5:26 ©

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal(All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV)so that he could separate the church from the world and wash it clean with the water of the good messageOET logo mark

OET-LVin_order_that he_may_sanctify her, having_cleansed her by_the washing of_ the _water by the_message,OET logo mark

SR-GNTἵνα αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ, καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι,
   (hina autaʸn hagiasaʸ, katharisas tōi loutrōi tou hudatos en ɽaʸmati,)

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).

ULTso that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word,

USTso that he might set us apart for himself. He purified us by telling us his plan to forgive us and by removing our sins as though washing them away in water.

BSBto sanctify her, cleansing [her] by the washing with water through [the] word,

MSB (Same as BSB above)

BLBso that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word,


AICNTin order to sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

OEBto make her holy, after purifying her by the washing with the water, according to his promise;

WEBBEthat he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

WMBB (Same as above)

NETto sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word,

LSVthat He might sanctify it, having cleansed [it] with the bathing of the water in the saying,

FBVHe made it holy, he made it clean by washing in the water of the word,[fn]


5:26 Presumably an allusion to baptism.

TCNTto sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,

T4Tin order that he might set us apart for himself/cause us to belong to him►. That is, by revealing his message to us, he wanted to remove the guilt of our sin, just like people remove dirt from something by washing it [MET].

LEBin order that he might sanctify her by cleansing her[fn] with the washing of water by the word;


5:26 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

BBESo that he might make it holy, having made it clean with the washing of water by the word,

Moffto consecrate her by cleansing her in the bath of baptism as she utters her confession,

Wymthin order to make her holy, cleansing her with the baptismal water by the word,

ASVthat he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

DRAThat he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life:

YLTthat he might sanctify it, having cleansed [it] with the bathing of the water in the saying,

Drbyin order that he might sanctify it, purifying [it] by the washing of water by [the] word,

RVthat he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

SLTThat he might consecrate it, having cleansed by the washing of water in the word,

WbstrThat he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

KJB-1769That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

KJB-1611That he might sanctifie & cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word,
   (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

BshpsTo sanctifie it, clensyng it in the fountayne of water in the worde,
   (To sanctify it, cleansing it in the fountain of water in the word,)

GnvaThat hee might sanctifie it, and clense it by the washing of water through the worde,
   (That he might sanctify it, and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word, )

Cvdlto sanctifye it, and clensed it in the fountayne of water by the worde,
   (to sanctify it, and cleansed it in the fountain of water by the word,)

TNTto sanctifie it and clensed it in the fountayne of water thorow the worde
   (to sanctify it and cleansed it in the fountain of water through the word )

Wycland clenside it with the waisching of watir, in the word of lijf,
   (and cleansede it with the waisching of water, in the word of life,)

Luthauf daß er sie heiligte, und hat sie gereiniget durch das Wasserbad im Wort,
   (on/in/to that he they/she/them sanctified, and has they/she/them cleaned through the waterbad in_the word,)

ClVgut illam sanctificaret, mundans lavacro aquæ in verbo vitæ,
   (as her to_sanctifyt, cleanns lavacro water in/into/on word of_life, )

UGNTἵνα αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ, καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι,
   (hina autaʸn hagiasaʸ, katharisas tōi loutrōi tou hudatos en ɽaʸmati,)

SBL-GNTἵνα αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι,
   (hina autaʸn hagiasaʸ katharisas tōi loutrōi tou hudatos en ɽaʸmati,)

RP-GNTἵνα αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ, καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι,
   (hina autaʸn hagiasaʸ, katharisas tōi loutrōi tou hudatos en ɽaʸmati,)

TC-GNTἵνα αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ, καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι,
   (hina autaʸn hagiasaʸ, katharisas tōi loutrōi tou hudatos en ɽaʸmati, )

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


TSNTyndale Study Notes:

5:26 washed by the cleansing of God’s word: The church has been cleansed by the message of good news. God has forgiven the sins of his people through Christ’s sacrificial death (John 15:3; cp. Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21).


SOTNSIL 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.

5:26–27

In the Greek, 5:25–27 are one continuous sentence. But it may be clearer to start a new sentence at 5:26, for example:

He did this in order to…

He died in order to….

In 5:26–27, Paul gave two purposes for which Christ gave himself up for the church: Christ did this:

  1. in order to make the church holy (5:26a),

  2. in order to present the church to himself in a perfect, beautiful condition (5:27).

The second purpose is the ultimate purpose, Christ’s long-range goal. He died for us so that in the future when he comes to get us, we will be radiant, holy and blameless.

5:26a

to sanctify her,

to sanctify her: The clause to sanctify her is the purpose Christ gave himself for the church (5:25b). Christ gave himself for the church in order to sanctify her.

to sanctify: Some English versions translate the Greek verb here as “to…make holy.” The BSB and older English versions translate this verb as sanctify. There are two possible ways to interpret the meaning of the Greek verb here.

  1. It means to make holy/pure. For example:

    to make her holy (NLT) (BSB, NIV, NRSV, NJB, GW, NLT, CEV, JBP)

  2. It means “to set apart, to make God’s special people.” For example:

    He did this to dedicate the church to God (GNT) (GNT, REB, NCV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). In the NT, sanctify usually means “set apart for the service of God,” but here the meaning is “made pure” because of the word “cleansing” which follows. You can translate this:

He did this to make them pure

See holy, Meaning 4 in the Glossary for more information.

5:26b

cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

cleansing her by the washing with water: The clause cleansing her by the washing with water is a metaphor. Paul meant that Christ “washed away” or removed our sins (cf. 1 John 1:7, 9). It is another way to say Christ made us holy (5:26a). Paul was not referring to Christ literally washing the church or Christians to get the dirt off their bodies.

by the washing with water: Paul said that Christ removed our sins by the washing with water. This probably refers to baptism. Paul may have been comparing baptism to the ceremonial bath taken by a Jewish bride before marriage. Just as a Jewish bride was given a bath before her marriage, so Christ washed away our sins through baptism when we became his bride.

In order to avoid implying that Christ physically washed the church, you may need to include your word for “baptism” in your translation. For example:

…to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s Word (NLT96)

(In the above quote from the NLT96, the word “her” refers to the church.)

through the word: There are two interpretation issues that you need to consider when you translate this phrase:

Issue 1: The meaning of the phrase the word. Here the word means the words that God or Christ spoke. It refers to God’s Word, the Christian message. When we heard and believed God’s Word, trusted in Christ and were baptized, Christ made us pure and cleansed us from sin.

Issue 2: To which part of the verse is word connected. Two of the main interpretations are:

  1. word goes with “cleansed.” According to this interpretation, Christ cleansed the church both with water and with the word. For example:

    washed by baptism and God’s word (NLT) (NLT96, GW, REB)

  2. word goes with sanctify/make holy in 5:26a. According to this interpretation, Christ cleansed the church with water, and then he sanctified it by the word. For example:

    dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water (GNT)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) as this seems to have the most support among commentaries.


UTNuW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-goal

ἵνα

in_order_that

The connecting phrase so that introduces a goal relationship. The goal or purpose of Christ giving himself up to death is to sanctify the church.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

αὐτὴν ἁγιάσῃ, καθαρίσας

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἵνα αὐτήν ἁγιάσῃ καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι)

Paul speaks of the assembly of believers as though she were a woman whom Jesus will marry. Alternate translation: [he might make us holy, having cleansed us]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

καθαρίσας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ῥήματι

˓having˒_cleansed_‹her› ˱by˲_the washing ¬the ˱of˲_water by ˓the˒_word

This could mean: (1) Paul is referring to God making Christ’s people clean by the preaching and acceptance of God’s word in the gospel message and through water baptism in Christ. (2) Paul is speaking of God making us spiritually clean from our sins by the message as if God were making our bodies clean by washing them with water.

BI Eph 5:26 ©