Ephesians — The Tyndale New Testament (1534)

The epistle known today as Ephesians in Tyndale's revised New Testament of 1534, translated from the Greek and opened, as in the print, by Tyndale's prologue to the epistle. It is printed here from the copy in the British Library as keyed by the Text Creation Partnership, in the spelling of 1534; the margin notes are given as footnotes, and the crosses ✚ and ⊢ mark where the lessons read in church begin and end.

¶ The Prologe vpon the epistle of S. Paul to the Ephesians.

IN this pistle / and namely in the .iij. fyrst Chapters / Paul sheweth that the Gospell and grace therof was foresene and predestinat of God from before the beginninge / & deserued thorow Christ / & now at the last sent forth that all mē shuld beleue theron / therby to be iustified / made righteous / lyuinge and happie / and to be delyuered from vnder the dāpnaciō of the lawe & captiuite of ceremonies.

And in the fourth he teacheth to auoyde tradicions and mennes doctrines / and to beware of puttynge trust in anye thinge saue Christ / affirminge that he onlye is sufficiēt / & that in hī we haue all thinges / & besyde▪ him nede nothinge.

In the .v. and .vj. he exhorteth to exercise the fayth & to declare it abroade thorow good workes / and to auoyde synne / and to arme them with spirituall armoure agaynst the deuell that they myght stonde fast in tyme of tribulacion & vnder the crosse.

The text

Chapter 1

¶ The fyrst. Chapter.

1 PAul an Apostle of Iesu Christ / by [A] the will of God. To the saynctes which are at Ephesus / & to them which beleve on Iesus Christ.

2 Grace be with you and peace from God oure father / and from the Lorde Iesus Christ.

3 Blessed be God the father of oure lorde Iesus Christ / which hath blessed vs with all maner of spirituall blessinges in hevēly thyngꝭ by Chryst /

4 accordynge as he had chosen vs in¹ him / before yᵉ foūdaciō of yᵉ worlde was layde / that we shuld be saintes / & without blame before him / thorow loue.

5 And ordeyned vs before thorow Iesus Christ to be heyres vnto him silfe² / accordinge to the pleasure of his will /

6 to yᵉ prayse of the glorie of his grace where with he hath made vs accepted in the beloved.³

7 By whom we have redemption thorow his [A] bloude euen the forgevenes of synnes / accordynge to the riches of his grace /

8 which grace he shed on vs aboundantly in all wisdome / and perceavaunce.

9 And hath openned vnto vs the⁴ mistery of his will accordinge to his pleasure / and purposed the same in hym silfe

10 to have it declared when the tyme were full come / y[ᵗ] all thynges / bothe yᵉ thynges which are in heven / and also the thynges which are in erthe / shuld be gaddered togedder / even in Christ:

11 that is to saye / in him in whom we are made heyres / and were therto predestinate accordynge⁵ to the purpose of him which worketh all thinges after the purpose of his awne will:

12 that we which before beleved in Christ shuld be vnto the prayse of his glory.

13 In whom also ye (after that ye hearde the worde of trueth / I meane the gospell of youre saluaciō / wherin ye beleved) were sealed with [C] the holy sprete of promes /

14 which is the ernest of oure inheritaunce / to redeme the purchased possession and that vnto the laude of his glory.

15 Wherfore even I (after that I hearde of⁶ the fayth which ye have in the lorde Iesu / & love vnto all the saynctes)

16 cease not to geve thankes for you / makynge mencion of you in my prayers /

17 that yᵉ God of oure lorde Iesus [D] Christ and the father of glory / myght geve vnto you the sprete of wisdome / and open to you the knowledge of him silfe /

18 and lighten the eyes of youre myndes / yᵗ ye myght knowe what that hope is / where vnto he hath called⁷ you / and what the riches of his glorious inheritaunce is apon the sainctes /

19 and what is the excedynge greatnes of his power to vs warde which⁸ beleve accordynge to the workynge of that his mighty power /

20 which he wrought in Christ / when he raysed him from deeth / and set him on his right honde in hevenly thynges /

21 above all rule / power / and myght and dominacion / and above all names that are named / not in this worlde only / but also in the worlde to come:

22 and hath put all thynges vnder his fete / and hath made him aboue all thynges / yᵉ heed of yᵉ congregacion

23 which is his body and the fulnes of him that filleth all in all thynges.

Notes to Chapter 1

Chapter 2

¶ The .ii. Chapter.

1 [A] ANd hath quickened you also that were deed in treaspasse & synne /

2 in y[ᵉ] which⁹ in tyme passed ye walked / acordynge to the course of this worlde / and after the governer that ruleth in the ayer / the sprete y[ᵗ] now worketh in the children of vnbelefe /

3 amonge which we also had oure conversacion in tyme past / in the lustes of oure flesshe / and fullfilled the will of the flesshe and of the mynde: and were¹⁰ naturally the children of wrath / even as wel as other.

4 But God which is rich in mercy thorow his greate love wherwith he loved vs /

5 even when we were deed by synne / hath quickened vs together in Christ (for by grace are ye saved)

6 & hath raysed vs vp together & made vs¹¹ sitte together in hevenly thynges thorow [A] Christ Iesus /

7 for to shewe in tymes to come the excedynge ryches of his grace / in kyndnes to vs warde in Christ Iesu.

8 For by grace are ye made safe thorowe fayth / and that not of youre selves. For it is the gyfte of God /

9 & commeth not of workes / lest eny man shuld bost him silfe.

10 For we are his worckmanshippe / created in Christ Iesu vnto good workes / vnto the which god ordeyned vs before / that we shuld walke in them.

11 Wherfore remēber y[ᵗ] ye beynge in tyme passed gētyls in yᵉ flesshe / & were called vncircūcision to thē which are called circūcisiō in the flesshe / which circūcision is made by hondes:

12 Remēber I saye / y[ᵗ] ye were at that tyme wᵗ oute Christ / & were reputed aliantes from the cōmen welth of Israel / & were straūgers frō the¹² testamente of promes / & had no hope / & were with out god in this worlde.

13 But now [C] in Christ Iesu / ye which a whyle agoo were farre of / are made nye by yᵉ bloude of Christ.

14 For he is oure peace / whych hath made of both one / and hath broken doune the¹³ wall yᵗ was a stoppe bitwene vs /

15 and hath also put awaye thorow his flesshe / the cause of hatred (that is to saye / the lawe of commaundementes [D] contayned in the lawe written) for to make of twayne one newe mā in him silfe / so makynge peace:

16 and to recōcile both vnto god in one body thorow his crosse / and slewe hatred therby:

17 and came and preached peace to you which were a farre of / and to them that were nye.

18 For thorow him we both have an open waye in / in one sprete vnto che father.

19 ✚ Now therfore ye are no moare straūgers & foreners: but citesyns with the saynetes / and of the housholde of god:

20 and are bilt apon the foundacion of the apostles and prophetes / Iesus Christ beynge the heed corner stone /

21 in whom every bildynge coupled togedder / groweth vnto an holy temple in yᵉ lorde /

22 in whō¹⁴ ye also are bilt togedder / & made an habitaciō for god in the sprete. ⊢

Notes to Chapter 2

Chapter 3

¶ The .iii. Chapter.

1 FOr this cause I Paul ā in yᵉ bōdes of Iesus christ for youre sake which are [A] hethen:

2 Yf ye have hearde of the ministracion of the grace of god which is geven¹⁵ me to you warde.

3 For by revelacion shewed he this mistery vnto me / as I wrote above in feawe wordes /

4 wherby when ye rede ye maye knowe myneivnderstondynge in the mistery of Christ /

5 which mistery in tymes passed was not opened vnto the sonnes of men / as it is no we declared vnto his holy apostles and prophetes by the sprete:

6 that the gentyls shuld be inheritours also / and of the same body / and partakers of his promis yᵗ is in Christ / by yᵉ meanes of the gospell /

7 wherof I am made a minister / by the gyfte of the grace of god gevē vnto me thorow y[ᵉ] workynge of his power.

8 Vnto me the lest of all sayntes is this grace geven / that I shuld preache amonge the gentyls [B] the vnsearchable ryches of Christ /

9 and to make all mense what the felyshippe of the mistery is / which from the begynnynge of the worlde hath bene hid in God which made all thynges thorow Iesus Christ /

10 to the intent / that now vnto the rulars & powers in heven myght be knowē by the cōgregacion yᵉ many folde wisdome of god /

11 accordinge to y[ᵉ] eternall purpose / which he purposed in Christ Iesu oure lorde /

12 by whō we are bolde to drawe nye in yᵗ trust / which we have by faith on hi

13 ✚ Wherfore I desire yᵗ ye faynt not because of my trybulaciōs for youre sakes: which is youre prayse.

14 For this cause I bowe my knees vnto the father of oure lorde Iesus Christ /

15 which is father over all that ys called father In heven & in erth /

16 that he wolde graunt you acordynge [C] to the ryches of his glory / that ye maye be strenghted with myght by his sprete in the inner man /

17 y⟨illegible⟩ Christmaye dwell in youre hertes by¹⁶ fayth / y[ᵗ] ye beynge roted & grounded in loue /

18 myght be able to comprehen de with all sayntes / what ys that bredth aud length / deepth and heyth:

19 and to knowe what is the love of Christ / which love passeth knowledge: that ye might be fulfilled with all manner of fulnes which commeth of God.

20 Vnto him that is able to do excedynge aboūdantly above all that we axe or thynke / accordynge to the power that worketh in vs /

21 be prayse in the congregacion by Iesus Christ / thorowout all generaciōs from tyme to tyme Amen. ⊢

Notes to Chapter 3

Chapter 4

¶ The .iiii. Chapter. ✚

1 I Therfore which am in bondes for the [A] lordes sake / exhorte you / that ye walke worthy of the vocacion wherwith ye are called /

2 in all humblenes of mynde / and meknes /¹⁷ and longe sufferynge / for bearinge one another thorowe love /

3 and that ye be dyligēt to kepe yᵉ vnitie of yᵉ sprete in the bonde of peace /

4 beynge one body / and one sprete / evē as ye¹⁸ are called in one hope of youre callynge.

5 Let therbe but one lorde / one fayth / one baptim:

6 one god and father of all / which is above all / thorow all and in you all.

7 ✚ Vnto every one of vs is geven grace acordinge to the measure of yᵉ gyft of christ.

8 Wherfore he sayth: He is gone vp an hye / and hath ledde captivitie captive / & hath geven gyftes vnto men.

9 That he ascended: what meaneth [B] it / but that he also descended fyrst into the lowest parties of the erth?

10 He that descended / is even the same also that ascended vp / even above all hevens / to fulfill all thinges.

11 And the very same made some Apost les / some prophete / some Evangelistes / some Sheperdes / some Teachers:

12 yᵗ the sainctes might¹⁹ have all thingꝭ necessarie to worke & minister with all / to the edifyinge of the body of christ /

13 tyll we every one (in the vnitie of fayth / and knowledge of the sonne of god) growe vp vnto a parfayte man / after yᵉ measure of²⁰ age of fulnes of Christ.

14 ✚ That we hence forth be no moare chyldren / wauerynge and caryed with every wynde of doctryne / by the wylynes of men and craftynes / wherby they laye a [B] wayte for vs to deceave vs.

15 But let vsfolowe the trueth in loue / and in all thynges growe in him which is the heed / that ys to saye Christ /

16 in whom all the body ys coupled and knet togedder in every ioynt wherwith one ministreth toanother (accordinge to the operacion as every parte hath his measure) and increaseth the body / vnto the edyfyinge of it silfe in love.

17 ✚ This I saye therfore & testifie in yᵉ lorde / that ye hence forth walke not as other gentyls walke / in vanitie of their mynde /

18 blynded in their vnderstondynge / beynge straungers from the lyfe which is in god thorow the ignorancy that is in them / because of the²¹ blyndnes of their hertes:

19 which beynge past repentaunce / have geven them selves vnto [C] wantannes / to worke all manner of vnclennes / even with gredynes.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ /

21 if so be ye have hearde of him / and are taught in him / even as the trueth is in Iesu.

22 So then as concernynge the cōversacion in tyme past / laye from you that olde mā / which is corrupte thorow the deceavable lustes²²

23 ✚ and be ye renued in the sprete of youre myndes /

24 and put on that newe man / which after the ymage of God is shapen in ryghtewesnes [F] and true holynes.

25 ✚ Wherfore put awaye lyinge / and speake every man truth vnto his neghbour / for as moche as we are members one of another.

26 Be angrye but synne not²³ let not the sonne go doune apon youre wrathe

27 nether geue place vnto yᵉ back byter.

28 Let him y[ᵗ] stole / steale no moare / but let him rather laboure with his hondes some good thingꝭ that he²⁴ maye have to geve vnto him that nedeth. ⊢

29 Let no filthy cōmunicacion procede out of youre mouthes: but yᵗ whych is good to edefye²⁵ with all / when nede ys: that it maye have faveour with the hearers.

30 And greve not the holy sprete of God / by whome ye are sealed vnto the daye of redempcion.

31 Let all bitternes fearsnes and wrath / ⟨illegible⟩orrnge and cursyd speakynge / be²⁶ put awaye from you / with all maliciousnes.

32 Be ye courteouse one to another / and mercifull / forgevynge one another / evē as god for Christes sake forgave you.

Notes to Chapter 4

Chapter 5

¶ The. ⟨illegible⟩. Chapter. ✚

1 BE ye folowers of god as dere children /

2 [A] and walke in love even as Christ loved vs & gave him silfe for vs / an offerynge and a sacrifyce of a swete saver to god.

3 Sothat fornicacion and all vnclennes / or coveteousnes²⁷ be not once named amonge you / as it be commeth saynctes:

4 nether filthynes / nether folishe talkyng / nether gestinge which are not comly: but rather gevynge of thankes

5 For this ye knowe / yᵗ no whormonger / other vnclene person / or coveteous person which is²⁸ the worshipper of ymages / hath eny inheritaunce in the kyngdome of Christ & of God.

6 Let no mā deceave you with vayne wordes. [B] For thorow soche thinges cōmeth the wrath²⁹ of God vpon the chyldrē of vnbelefe.

7 Be not therfore companions with them.

8 Ye were once dercknes / but are now light in the Lorde. Walke as chyldren of light.

9 For the frute of the sprete is in all goodnes / rightewesnes & trueth.

10 ✚ Accept that which is pleasinge to the Lorde:

11 and have no fellishippe with the vnfrutfull workes of dercknes: but rather rebuke [C] them.

12 For it is shame even to name those³⁰ thinges which are done of them in secrete:

13 but all thinges / when they are rebuked of the light / are manifest. For whatsoever is manifest / that same is light.

14 Wherfore he sayth: awake thou that slepest / and stond vp from deeth / and Christ shall geve the light.

15 ✚ Take hede therfore that ye walke circūspectly: not as foles: but as wyse³¹

16 redemynge the tyme: for yᵉ dayes are evyll.

17 Wherfore / be ye not vnwyse / but vnderstonde what the will of the Lorde is /

18 & be not dronke with wyne / wherin [D] is e[x]cesse: but be fulfilled with the sprete /

19 speakynge vnto youre selves in psalmes / & ymnes / & spretuall songes / synginge & makinge melodie to y[ᵉ] Lorde in youre hertes /

20 gevinge thankes all wayes for all thinges vnto God the father / in the name of oure Lorde³² Iesu Christ:

21 submittinge youre selves one to another in the feare of God. ⊢

22 Wemen submit youre selves vnto youre³³ awne husbandes / as vnto the Lorde.

23 For the husbande is the wyves heed / even as Christ [E] is the heed of the congregacion / & the same is³⁴ the saveoure of the body.

24 Therfore as the cōgregacion is in subieccion to Christ / lykwyse let the wyves be in subieccion to their husbandes³⁵ in all thinges.

25 Husbandes love youre wyves / even as Christ loved the congregacion / & gave him silfe for it /

26 to sanctifie it / and clensed it in the³⁶ fountayne of water thorow the [F] worde /

27 to make it vnto him selfe / a glorious congregacion with oute spot or wrynckle / or eny soche thinge: but that it shuld be holy and with out blame.

28 So ought men to love their wyves / as their awne bodyes. He that loveth his wyfe / loveth him sylfe.

29 For no mā ever yet / hated his awne flesshe: but norissheth and cherisseth it even as the lorde doth the congregacion.

30 For [G] we are members of his body / of his flesshe / & of his bones.

31 For this cause shall a man leave father and mother / and shall cōtinue with his wyfe / and two shalbe made one flesshe.³⁷

32 This is a great secrete / but I speake bitwene Christ and the cōgregacion.

33 Neverthelesse do ye so that every one of you love his wyfe truely even as him silfe. And let y[ᵉ] wyfe se that she feare her husbāde.

Notes to Chapter 5

Chapter 6

¶ The .vi. Cha.

1 CHyldren obey youre fathers & mothers³⁸ in the Lorde: for so is it right.

2 Honoure [A] thy father & mother / that is the fyrst commaundement that hath eny promes /

3 that thou mayst be in good estate / & lyve longe on the erthe.

4 And ye fathers / move not youre children [B] to wrath: but bringe thē vp wᵗ the norter³⁹ & informaciō of yᵉ Lorde.

5 Servaūtes be obedient⁴⁰ vnto youre carnall masters / with feare & trunblinge / in singlenes of youre herte / as vnto Christ:

6 not wᵗ service in y[ᵉ] ⟨illegible⟩ye sight / as men pleasars: but as the servaūtes of Christ / doynge yᵉ will of God frō the herte

7 with good will servinge yᵉ Lorde / & not men.

8 And remember⁴¹ that whatsoever good thinge eny man doeth / that shall he receave agayne of the Lorde / whether he be bonde or fre.

9 And ye masters / do evē [C] the same thinges vnto them / puttinge awaye threateninges: and remember that even youre master also is in heven / nether is ther eny respecte of person with him.

10 ✚ Finally my brethrē / be stronge in the Lorde / & in the power of his myght.

11 Put on y[ᵉ] armour of God / that ye maye stonde stedfast agaynst y[ᵉ] crafty assa⟨illegible⟩tes of the devyll.

12 For we wrestle not agaynst flesshe and bloud: but agaynst rule / agaynst power / & agaynst worldy rulars of y[ᵉ] darckenes of this worlde / agaynst spretuall wickednes for hevenly thinges.

13 [D] For this cause take vnto you the⁴² armoure of God / yᵗ ye maye be able to resist in the evyll daye / and to stonde perfect in all thinges.

14 Stonde therfore & youre loynes gyrd aboute with veritie / havinge on the brest plate of rightewesnes /

15 and shood with showes prepared by the gospell of peace.

16 Above all take to you the shelde of fayth / wherwith ye maye quenche all y[ᵉ] fyrie dartes of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvaciō / & the swearde of the sprete / which is the worde of God.

18 ✚ And praye all wayes with all māner prayer & supplicaciō: & y[ᵗ] in the sprete: & watch ther vnto wᵗ all instance & supplicaciō for all saynctes /

19 and for me / that vttraunce maye be gevē vnto me / that I maye open my mouth boldly / to vtter the secretes of the gospell /

20 wherof I am a messenger in bondes / that therin I maye speake frely / as it becommeth me to speake.

21 [D] But that ye maye also knowe what condicion I am in & what I do / Tichicus my deare brother and faythfull minister in the Lorde / shall shewe you of all thinges /

22 whom I sent vnto you for the same purpose / that ye myght knowe what case I stonde in / & that he myght comfort youre hertes.

23 Peace be with the brethren / and love with fayth / from God the father & from the Lorde Iesu Christ.

24 Grace be with all them which love oure lorde Iesus Christ in puernes. Amē

¶ Sent from Rome vnto the Ephesyans by Tichicus.

Notes to Chapter 6

Colophon

Transcribed from The newe Testament dylygently corrected and compared with the Greke by Willyam Tindale (Antwerp: Marten Emperowr, November 1534; STC 2826), British Library copy, as keyed by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A68940): keyed by Apex CoVantage from the ProQuest page images in 2005, then sampled and proofread by Judith Siefring. The TCP transcription was released into the public domain under CC0 1.0. The printed text is in the public domain.

Spelling, capitals, punctuation (including the virgule /), abbreviation marks (the macron, as in thē, and ꝭ) and the signs ¶ ✚ ⊢ ❧ are kept as printed. The only changes are these: long s (ſ) is set as s; superscript letters are set as ᵉ ᵗ ᵒ (yᵉ = the, yᵗ = that); ▪ marks a stop the transcribers could not identify; a word divided at the end of a line, with or without a printed hyphen, is joined into one word; a letter supplied from another text, as explained below, is set in square brackets; page breaks and catchwords are removed. Woodcuts and decorated initials are not reproduced, but woodcut captions are given. The margin notes are given as numbered footnotes. Printed headings are kept, including their misprints, as italic lines under the library's chapter headings. The letters [A] to [G] are the section letters printed in the margin, by which the 1534 margin references (for example "Esaie vij. c.") and the table of lessons find a passage.

The 1534 print has no verse numbers. They are supplied here from the eBible.org Tyndale New Testament (1534), a public-domain, verse-numbered electronic text of the same edition. A word-by-word alignment showed that about 97 per cent of the two texts' words are identical across the New Testament, and the remainder differ in spelling and abbreviation, with a few slips of keying in one text or the other. The paragraphs of the print give way to one paragraph per verse.

Words that the transcribers could not read are marked ⟨illegible⟩ (26 places on this page, 21 of them in the margin notes).

In the verse text of this book, 18 places that the transcribers could not read in the printed book have been supplied from the eBible.org Tyndale New Testament (1534), a later electronic transcription of Tyndale's New Testament whose transcriber is not named. Each supplied letter is set in square brackets, as in y[ᵉ] or fal[c]e, so that it can be told from a letter the transcribers read in the print. A place was supplied only where the verse alignment was exact on both sides, the eBible reading agreed letter for letter with every legible letter, and no macron could have stood in the gap. Where the small superscript letter after y was supplied, the eBible text is the only evidence for that letter.

This is an archival transcription of Tyndale's printed English, not a Good Works Translation: nothing here has been translated or modernised by the library.

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