Ephesians 5

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,

¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

¹²Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

³⁴A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

¹⁵For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

¹⁴Do everything in love.

⁵Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

²⁰idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

³For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

⁷For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

⁸But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

²⁹Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

¹⁸Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.

⁴Consider ships as well. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot is inclined.

⁵In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.

³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

³⁵The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

⁵Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

¹⁵But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

³But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

⁴Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

¹¹For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.

²²Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

¹¹Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

¹¹If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

¹⁸When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹²Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

⁷But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.

¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹³He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

¹¹Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

⁹Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

¹⁰By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

¹¹But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

¹⁴May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

²⁰How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

²¹but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

¹²The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

⁶Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.

¹⁰If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him.

¹¹Whoever greets such a person shares in his evil deeds.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them.

²¹What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

³But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.

¹⁶on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel.

¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

²⁴“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

¹²You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

³For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

²¹But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

¹⁰And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.

¹When I heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim will be exposed, as well as the crimes of Samaria. For they practice deceit and thieves break in; bandits raid in the streets.

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

¹⁴The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

¹Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

¹¹And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

¹²The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

¹⁹Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.

⁶So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.

¹Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.

⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁵Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

²⁷Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending together as one for the faith of the gospel,

²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

⁵Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.

¹³Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

¹Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”

¹³Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.

¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

¹⁸Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

¹⁵Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

²²“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.

¹³Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²⁴Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

²²Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,

¹⁶Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

²⁶What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church.

²Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music on the harp to our God,

¹³Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.

¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

¹⁸Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.

³We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁴An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity.

¹⁸Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

¹Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives

²when they see your pure and reverent demeanor.

⁵to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.

¹⁶To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

²⁰The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

³But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

¹⁸And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.

²²And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church,

²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

²⁶to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

³³Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

⁷In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity,

²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

⁹Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord.

⁷Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

²⁸In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

³³Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

²⁵I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

¹⁷Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

¹⁸As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.

¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

²²But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—

¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

⁴For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love

¹⁴knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

²¹So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.

²²And from the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.

³³Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

¹⁴I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

¹⁷A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.

⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”

⁵The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

¹¹He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

⁵so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

²³And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”

²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

¹⁹He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

⁷‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

¹⁶Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

²I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

⁵For your husband is your Maker—the Lord of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

⁷Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.

⁸She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints.

²that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,

⁴No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.

⁵For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

²when they see your pure and reverent demeanor.

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,

²⁰The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

²²Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

²⁸In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

²⁹Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.