Ephesians 1

¹ Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's holy people, faithful in Christ Jesus.

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessingsof heaven in Christ.

⁴ Thus he chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before him in love,

⁵ marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was hispurpose and good pleasure,

⁶ to the praise of the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved,

⁷ in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness ofthe grace

⁸ which he has showered on us in al wisdom and insight.

⁹ He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, according to his good pleasure which he determinedbeforehand in Christ,

¹⁰ for him to act upon when the times had run their course: that he would bring everything together underChrist, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.

¹¹ And it is in him that we have received our heritage, marked out beforehand as we were, under the planof the One who guides al things as he decides by his own wil ,

¹² chosen to be, for the praise of his glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before hecame.

¹³ Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, and havingput your trust in it you have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,

¹⁴ who is the pledge of our inheritance, for the freedom of the people whom God has taken for his own,for the praise of his glory.

¹⁵ That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for al God's holypeople,

¹⁶ have never failed to thank God for you and to remember you in my prayers.

¹⁷ May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perceptionof what is revealed, to bring you to ful knowledge of him.

¹⁸ May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his cal holds for you, how richis the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people,

¹⁹ and how extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with thestrength of his power

²⁰ at work in Christ, the power which he exercised in raising him from the dead and enthroning him at hisright hand, in heaven,

²¹ far above every principality, ruling force, power or sovereignty, or any other name that can be named,not only in this age but also in the age to come.

²² He has put al things under his feet, and made him, as he is above all things, the head of the Church;

²³ which is his Body, the ful ness of him who is fil ed, al in al .