Ephesians 2:4
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| Ephesians 2:4 in Vaticanus (ca. 4th century) |
ESV But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
NIV84 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
NIV But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
HCSB But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us,
NASB But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
NET But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us,
Check a: “his great love”
The Greek text says “his great love,” not “the” great love. The semi-redundant reference to “his” great love with which “he” loved us is intended to place the emphasis on God’s activity in loving, just like the use of the noun for love and verb for love is intended to prop up God’s love as high as the author can. All other translations besides the ESV include the personal pronoun in their translations. This doesn’t lead to an incorrect reading of the text, but a de-emphasizing of an element.
Check b: “love with which he loved”
The author uses the Greek noun for love (agape) and the Greek verb (agapaō) for the purpose of emphasis. Apparently, Paul didn’t think calling God’s love “great” (polus) was enough, so he used repetition. The ESV, NASB, and NET retain the verb. The NIV and NIV84 both leave it out. The HCSB retains a verb (“He had”) but not the verb “love.” They do this for the purpose of emphasis, by which it is fairly successful.
1-3 | 4a | 4b | sub-total | |
ESV | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
NIV84 | 7 | 1 | -1 | 7 |
NIV | 9 | 1 | -1 | 9 |
HCSB | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
NASB | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
NET | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
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