Ephesians - 1:16



16 don't cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Ephesians 1:16.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Cease not to give thanks for you, making commemoration of you in my prayers,
do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you at my prayers,
offer never ceasing thanks on your behalf while I make mention of you in my prayers.
Give praise without end for you, keeping you in mind in my prayers;
I have not ceased giving thanks for you, calling you to mind in my prayers,
have never omitted to thank God on your behalf, whenever I make mention of you in my prayers.
Non cesso gratias agere pro vobis, memoriam vestri faciens in orationibus meis;

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Making mention of you. To thanksgiving, as his custom is, he adds prayer, in order to excite them to additional progress. It was necessary that the Ephesians should understand that they had entered upon the proper course. But it was equally necessary that they should not turn aside to any new scheme of doctrine, or become indifferent about proceeding farther; for nothing is more dangerous than to be satisfied with that measure of spiritual benefits which has been already obtained. Whatever, then, may be the height of our attainments, let them be always accompanied by the desire of something higher.

Cease not to give thanks for you - In the prosperity of the church at Ephesus he could not but feel the deepest interest, and their welfare he never forgot.
Making mention of you in my prayers - Paul was far distant from them, and expected to see them no more. But he had faith in prayer, and he sought that they might advance in knowledge and in grace. What was the particular subject of his prayers, he mentions in the following verses.

Cease not to give thanks - The apostle intimates, so fully satisfied was he of the genuineness of their conversion, and of their steadiness since their conversion, that it was to him a continual cause of thanksgiving to God, who had brought them into that state of salvation; and of prayer, that they might be preserved blameless to the end.
Making mention of you - While praying for the prosperity of the Christian cause generally, he was led, from his particular affection for them, to mention them by name before God.

Cease not to give thanks for you,.... On account of their faith and love; which were gifts of grace bestowed upon them, and not the produce of their own free will and power; and therefore thanks are given to God for them:
making mention of you in my prayers; which shows the apostle to be a praying person, and that he was constant at the throne of grace, where he prayed for others as well as for himself; and it points out the time and way, when, and in which he gave thanks to God for them; and is mentioned, not only to testify his great affection for them, but also to excite them, by his example, to the practice of those duties themselves.

(Colossians 1:9).
of you--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Then the translation may be as English Version still, or as ALFORD, "making mention of them" (your "faith and love").

I cease not - In all my solemn addresses to God. To give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers - So he did of all the churches, Colossians 1:9.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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