Passage

Ephesians 4.11-16

Book: Ephesians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"9. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

"11. And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12. for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: 13. till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14. that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15. but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ; 16. from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love."

"17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;" (Ephesians 4:9-18, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"9. Now this, “He ascended”, what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things."

"11. He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; 12. for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13. until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14. that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; 15. but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; 16. from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love."

"17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18. being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;" (Ephesians 4:9-18, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"9. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) ^{fill: or, fulfil}"

"11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: ^{in: or, into} ^{stature: or, age} 14. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: ^{speaking: or, being sincere} 16. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

"17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: ^{blindness: or, hardness}" (Ephesians 4:9-18, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"9. and that, he went up, what is it except that he also went down first to the lower parts of the earth? 10. he who went down is the same also who went up far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things --"

"11. and He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] proclaimers of good news, and some [as] shepherds and teachers, 12. unto the perfecting of the saints, for a work of ministration, for a building up of the body of the Christ, 13. till we may all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to a measure of stature of the fulness of the Christ, 14. that we may no more be babes, tossed and borne about by every wind of the teaching, in the sleight of men, in craftiness, unto the artifice of leading astray, 15. and, being true in love, we may increase to Him [in] all things, who is the head, the Christ; 16. from whom the whole body, being fitly joined together and united, through the supply of every joint, according to the working in the measure of each single part, the increase of the body doth make for the building up of itself in love."

"17. This, then, I say, and I testify in the Lord; ye are no more to walk, as also the other nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart," (Ephesians 4:9-18, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Fivefold Ministry

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.