Ephesians 6:18-20

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ¹  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. 6:19 Pray ³  for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak ⁴  – that I may confidently make known ⁵  the mystery of the gospel, 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.

[6:18]  ¹ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ² tn Grk “and toward it.”

[6:19]  ³ tn To avoid a lengthy, convoluted sentence in English, the Greek sentence was broken up at this point and the verb “pray” was inserted in the English translation to pick up the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseuxomenoi, “praying”) in v. 18.

[6:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth.” Here “word” (λόγος, logo") is used in the sense of “message.”

[6:19]  ⁵ tn The infinitive γνωρίσαι (gnwrisai, “to make known”) is functioning epexegetically to further explain what the author means by the preceding phrase “that I may be given the message when I begin to speak.”