Ephesians 6

¹Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ²“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—³“so that it may go well with you and you may live long on the earth.” ⁴And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but nourish them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ, ⁶not with service only under their eyes, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing God's will, wholeheartedly ⁷serving with goodwill, as to the Lord and not to people, ⁸knowing that whatever good each person does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. ⁹And masters, do the same toward them, giving up threats, knowing that both their Master and yours is in the heavens, and there is no partiality with him.

¹⁰Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in his mighty strength. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes, ¹²because our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you can withstand on the evil day and, having done everything, stand. ¹⁴Stand, then, with truth girded around your waist, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet with the readiness of the good news of peace, ¹⁶in all circumstances taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the evil one's flaming arrows. ¹⁷And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word, ¹⁸praying in the Spirit at every time with every prayer and petition, and keeping alert for this with all perseverance and petition for all the holy ones, ¹⁹and for me, so that a word may be given to me when I open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the good news, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in a chain, so that I may speak boldly about it, as I must speak.

²¹But so that you too may know my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you. ²²I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us and he may encourage your hearts. ²³Peace to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with imperishable love.

Translation notes 6

6:1–4 — Children and fathers. “Children” includes sons and daughters; the next address explicitly says “fathers.” The promise follows the letter's quotation of the commandment, without importing the longer wording from Exodus or Deuteronomy. “Nourish” at verse 4 uses the same verb as 5:29, here in the sense of bringing children up. “Instruction” includes admonition or corrective counsel.

6:5–9 — Slaves and masters. These are enslaved people and their owners, not simply employees and employers. “According to the flesh” limits the masters' earthly relation without denying its reality. “Service only under their eyes” means working only when watched; “wholeheartedly” is literally “from the soul” and can attach to doing God's will in verse 6 or serving in verse 7. Masters are told to give up threats and are placed under the same impartial Master; the passage does not explicitly command emancipation.

6:10–13 — Wrestling and standing. “Blood and flesh” follows the Greek order and refers to human beings. The adversaries are spiritual, and the instruction is to stand firm, not to attack human opponents. “Heavenly realms” is the same expression used of Christ and believers earlier; it is not simply another term for a place containing only good beings. “Having done everything” may also mean having overcome everything.

6:14–17 — Armor and readiness. The armor draws on divine-warrior imagery such as Isaiah 11:5 and 59:17. “Readiness of the good news of peace” may mean readiness produced by that news, firm footing supplied by it, or readiness to announce it. The Greek does not express “to announce.” “God's word” here is a spoken message; it is not narrowed in the text to a particular written collection.

6:18–20 — Prayer and the prisoner. Prayer continues the armor passage rather than becoming a separate, unconnected instruction. The repeated “every” and “all” are prominent in Greek. “In a chain” preserves the singular imprisonment image beside the public role of ambassador; “in chains” is the ordinary English equivalent.

6:21–24 — Closing words. “Brothers” addresses the believing community and can include women. “Imperishable love” renders “in imperishability,” taking the phrase with their loving Christ; the repeated noun “love” is supplied in English. It can instead concern the imperishable life in which they love him or the enduring character of the grace bestowed. The base ends without “Amen”; many witnesses add it.