Ephesians 3:1

Good News Translation

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

King James Version (1611)
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles,

King James Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

English Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

New American Standard Bible
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

New Century Version
So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Legacy Standard Bible
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

Berean Standard Bible
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...

Contemporary English Version
Christ Jesus made me his prisoner, so that I could help you Gentiles.

Complete Jewish Bible
It is a consequence of this that I, Sha'ul, am a prisoner of the Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Gentiles.

Darby Translation
For this reason *I* Paul, prisoner of the Christ Jesus for you nations,

Easy-to-Read Version
So I, Paul, am a prisoner because I serve Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For this cause, I Paul am the prisoner of Iesus Christ for you Gentiles,

George Lamsa Translation
FOR this cause I, Paul, am a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of you Gentiles.

Lexham English Bible
On account of this I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles

Literal Translation
Because of this, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you, the nations,

Amplified Bible
For this reason [because I preach that you and believing Jews are joint heirs] I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

American Standard Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—

Bible in Basic English
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles,

Hebrew Names Version
For this cause I, Sha'ul, am the prisoner of Messiah Yeshua on behalf of you Goyim,

International Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.Acts 21:33; Galatians 5:11; Ephesians 4:1; 6:20; Philippians 1:7,13-14,16; Colossians 1:24; 2 Timothy 1:8; 2:9-10;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
On account of this I, Paulos, am bound for Jeshu Meshiha for the sake of you Gentiles:

Murdock Translation
On this account, I Paul am a prisoner of Jesus the Messiah, for the sake of you Gentiles:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For this cause I Paul [am] a prisoner of Iesus Christe, for you heathen:

English Revised Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—

World English Bible
For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For this cause I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, (Seeing ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God,

Weymouth's New Testament
For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the grace of this thing I Poul, the boundun of Crist Jhesu, for you hethene men,

Update Bible Version
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles-

Webster's Bible Translation
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

New English Translation
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

New King James Version
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles--

New Living Translation
When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles . . .

New Life Bible
I, Paul, am in prison because I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to you who are not Jews.

New Revised Standard
This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you the nations: -

Douay-Rheims Bible
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles:

Revised Standard Version
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles--

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For this cause I Paul a in ye bodes of Iesus christ for youre sakes which are hethen:

Young's Literal Translation
For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you the nations,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For this cause I Paul am a presoner of Iesus Christ for you Heythen,

Mace New Testament (1729)
This it is that makes me Paul a prisoner for Jesus Christ upon your account, O Gentiles;

THE MESSAGE
This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

Simplified Cowboy Version
It's because of this that I, Paul, who is a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the outsiders, pray to God.

Contextual Overview

¹ For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God. ² Surely you have heard that God in his grace has given me this work to do for your good. ³ God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this, ⁴ and if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ.) ⁵ In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ The secret is that by means of the gospel the Gentiles have a part with the Jews in God's blessings; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus. ⁷ I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power. ⁸ I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ, ⁹ and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages, ¹⁰ in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I: 2 Corinthians 10:1, Galatians 5:2

the: Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 6:20, Luke 21:12, Acts 21:33, Acts 26:29, Acts 28:17-20, 2 Corinthians 11:23, Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:13-16, Colossians 1:24, Colossians 4:3, Colossians 4:18, 2 Timothy 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:16, 2 Timothy 2:9, Philemon 1:1, Philemon 1:9, Revelation 2:10

for: Galatians 5:11, Colossians 1:24, 1 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 2:16, 2 Timothy 2:10

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:27 - Put this fellow Psalms 69:33 - his prisoners Jeremiah 36:5 - General Matthew 5:48 - even Acts 16:23 - they cast Acts 21:11 - So shall Acts 23:18 - Paul Acts 28:20 - this chain Romans 15:8 - truth Romans 15:16 - I should 2 Corinthians 6:5 - imprisonments Galatians 1:16 - that Ephesians 3:13 - at 2 Timothy 1:12 - the which Philemon 1:13 - the bonds Hebrews 10:34 - in my Hebrews 11:36 - bonds

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
The Lord God asked the woman, "Why did you do this?" She replied, "The snake tricked me into eating it."

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."

Ecclesiastes 4:10
If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him.

Isaiah 27:1
On that day the Lord will use his powerful and deadly sword to punish Leviathan, that wriggling, twisting dragon, and to kill the monster that lives in the sea.

Matthew 4:3
Then the Devil came to him and said, "If you are God's Son, order these stones to turn into bread."

Matthew 4:6
and said to him, "If you are God's Son, throw yourself down, for the scripture says, ‘God will give orders to his angels about you; they will hold you up with their hands, so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.'"

Matthew 4:9
"All this I will give you," the Devil said, "if you kneel down and worship me."

Matthew 10:16
"Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves.

2 Corinthians 11:14
Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

1 Peter 3:7
In the same way you husbands must live with your wives with the proper understanding that they are more delicate than you. Treat them with respect, because they also will receive, together with you, God's gift of life. Do this so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,.... Not actively, whom Christ had apprehended by his grace, and made a prisoner of hope; but passively, who was made a prisoner for Christ, on account of preaching Christ, and his Gospel: he was not a prisoner for any capital crime, as theft, murder, c. and therefore be was not ashamed of his bonds, but rather glories in them and a prison has often been the portion of the best of men in this world: from hence we learn, that this epistle was written when the apostle was a prisoner at Rome; and the consideration of this his condition serves much to confirm the truths he had before delivered, seeing they were such as he could, and did suffer for; and which must engage the attention of the Ephesians to them, and especially since his sufferings were on their account:

for you Gentiles: because he preached the Gospel to the Gentiles, which the Jews forbid, that they might not be saved; and because he taught them, that circumcision and the rest of the ceremonies of the law were not binding upon them; which gave great offence to the Jews, who were the means of bringing of him into these circumstances, and particularly the Asiatic Jews, the Jews of Ephesus; who having seen and heard him there, knew him again when in the temple at Jerusalem, and raised a mob upon him, having bore a grudge against him for his ministry at Ephesus, by which means he became a prisoner; so that he might truly say, he was a prisoner for the sake of them; see Acts 21:27. One of Stevens's copies adds, "am an ambassador", as in Ephesians 6:20 and another of them, "glory", or "rejoice"; see Philippians 2:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For this cause - On account of preaching this doctrine; that is, the doctrine that the gospel was to be proclaimed to the Gentiles.

I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ - A prisoner in the service of the Lord Jesus; or made a prisoner in his cause. Not a prisoner for crime or debt, or as a captive in war, but a captive in the service of the Redeemer. This proves that at the time of writing this, Paul was in bonds, and there can he no question that he was in Rome. This would be more correctly rendered, “For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner,” etc. So Tyndale renders it, “For this cause I, Paul, the servant of Jesus, am in bonds.” So also Locke, Rosenmuller, Doddridge, Whitby, Koppe, and others understand it. By this construction the abruptness now manifest in our common version is avoided.

For you Gentiles - Made a prisoner at Rome on your behalf, because I maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; see Acts 22:21-23. He was taken first to Cesarea, and then to Rome. The cause of his imprisonment and of all his difficulties was, that he maintained that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles; that when the Jews rejected it God rejected them; and that he was specially called to carry the message of salvation to the pagan world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III.

Paul, a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, declares his

knowledge of what had been a mystery from all ages, that the

Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body with the

Jews, 1-6.

Which doctrine he was made a minister, that he might declare the

unsearchable riches of Christ, and make known to principalities

and powers this eternal purpose of God, 7-12.

He desires them not to be discouraged on account of his

tribulations, 13.

His prayer that they might be filled with all the fulness of

God, 14-19.

His doxology, 20, 21.

NOTES ON CHAP. III.

Verse Ephesians 3:1. For this cause — Because he maintained that the Gentiles were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews, and all the blessings of the new covenant, without being obliged to submit to circumcision, the Jews persecuted him, and caused him to be imprisoned, first at Caesarea, where he was obliged to appeal to the Roman emperor, in consequence of which he was sent prisoner to Rome. See Acts 21:21-28, c.

The prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles — For preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, and showing that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and yet were called to be fellow citizens with the saints for this very cause the Jews persecuted him unto bonds, and conspired his death.