Efesus 1:22-23

1:22 And God ¹  put ²  all things under Christ’s ³  feet, ⁴  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁵  1:23 Now the church is ⁶  his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ⁷ 

Efesus 4:16

4:16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together ⁸  through every supporting ligament. ⁹  As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

Efesus 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ¹⁰  urge you to live ¹¹  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ¹² 

Pengkhotbah 2:4-5

Futility of Materialism

2:4 I increased my possessions: ¹³ 

I built houses for myself; ¹⁴ 

I planted vineyards for myself.

2:5 I designed ¹⁵  royal gardens ¹⁶  and parks ¹⁷  for myself,

and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

[1:22]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ² tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ⁵ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[1:23]  ⁶ tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

[1:23]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

[1:23]  sn The idea of all in all is either related to the universe (hence, he fills the whole universe entirely) or the church universal (hence, Christ fills the church entirely with his presence and power).

[4:16]  ⁸ tn The Greek participle συμβιβαζόμενον (sumbibazomenon) translated “held together” also has in different contexts, the idea of teaching implied in it.

[4:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “joint of supply.”

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[4:1]  ¹² sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

[2:4]  ¹³ tn Or “my works”; or “my accomplishments.” The term מַעֲשָׂי (ma’asay, “my works”) has been handled in two basic ways: (1) great works or projects, and (2) possessions. The latter assumes a metonymy, one’s effort standing for the possessions it produces. Both interpretations are reflected in the major English translations: “works” (KJV, NEB, NAB, ASV, NASB, MLB, RSV, Douay, Moffatt), “projects” (NIV), and “possessions” (NJPS).

[2:4]  sn This section (2:4-11) is unified and bracketed by the repetition of the verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to increase”) which occurs at the beginning (2:4) and end (2:9), and by the repetition of the root עשה (noun: “works” and verb: “to do, make, acquire”) which occurs throughout the section (2:4, 5, 6, 8, 11).

[2:4]  ¹⁴ sn The expression for myself is repeated eight times in 2:4-8 to emphasize that Qoheleth did not deny himself any acquisition. He indulged himself in acquiring everything he desired. His vast resources as king allowed him the unlimited opportunity to indulge himself. He could have anything his heart desired, and he did.

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “made.”

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn The term does not refer here to vegetable gardens, but to orchards (cf. the next line). In the same way the so-called “garden” of Eden was actually an orchard filled with fruit trees. See Gen 2:8-9.

[2:5]  ¹⁷ tn The noun פַּרְדֵּס (pardes, “garden, parkland, forest”) is a foreign loanword that occurs only 3 times in biblical Hebrew (Song 4:13; Eccl 2:5; Neh 2:8). The original Old Persian term pairidaeza designated the enclosed parks and pleasure-grounds that were the exclusive domain of the Persian kings and nobility (HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס; LSJ 1308 s.v παράδεισος). The related Babylonian term pardesu “marvelous garden” referred to the enclosed parks of the kings (AHw 2:833 and 3:1582). The term passed into Greek as παράδεισος (paradeisos, “enclosed park, pleasure-ground”), referring to the enclosed parks and gardens of the Persian kings (LSJ 1308). The Greek term has been transliterated into English as “paradise.”