Ephesians 3:1

New Century Version

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

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 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.

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

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 So I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you who are not Jews. ² Surely you have heard that God gave me this work to tell you about his grace. ³ He let me know his secret by showing it to me. I have already written a little about this. ⁴ If you read what I wrote then, you can see that I truly understand the secret about the Christ. ⁵ People who lived in other times were not told that secret. But now, through the Spirit, God has shown that secret to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶ This is that secret: that through the Good News those who are not Jews will share with the Jews in God's blessing. They belong to the same body, and they share together in the promise that God made in Christ Jesus. ⁷ By God's special gift of grace given to me through his power, I became a servant to tell that Good News. ⁸ I am the least important of all God's people, but God gave me this gift—to tell those who are not Jews the Good News about the riches of Christ, which are too great to understand fully. ⁹ And God gave me the work of telling all people about the plan for his secret, which has been hidden in him since the beginning of time. He is the One who created everything. ¹⁰ His purpose was that through the church all the rulers and powers in the heavenly world will now know God's wisdom, which has so many 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
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "How could you have done such a thing?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel."

Ecclesiastes 4:10
If one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls, because no one is there to help.

Isaiah 27:1
At that time the Lord will punish Leviathan, the gliding snake. He will punish Leviathan, the coiled snake, with his great and hard and powerful sword. He will kill the monster in the sea.

Matthew 4:3
The devil came to Jesus to tempt him, saying, "If you are the Son of God, tell these rocks to become bread."

Matthew 4:6
The devil said, "If you are the Son of God, jump down, because it is written in the Scriptures: ‘He has put his angels in charge of you. They will catch you in their hands so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.'" Psalm 91:11–12

Matthew 4:9
The devil said, "If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things."

Matthew 10:16
"Listen, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves.

2 Corinthians 11:14
This does not surprise us. Even Satan changes himself to look like an angel of light.

1 Peter 3:7
In the same way, you husbands should live with your wives in an understanding way, since they are weaker than you. But show them respect, because God gives them the same blessing he gives you—the grace that gives true life. Do this so that nothing will stop 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.