translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EPH

label: NET study note

text: A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16 .


text: A quotation from Deut 5:16 .


text: The pronoun “ this ” ( τοῦτο , touto ) stands first in its clause for emphasis, and stresses the fact that God will reward those, who in seeking him, do good.


text: The phrase spiritual forces of evil in the heavens serves to emphasize the nature of the forces which oppose believers as well as to indicate the locality from which they originate.


text: The four participles fastening… putting on…fitting…taking up… indicate the means by which believers can take their stand against the devil and his schemes. The imperative take in v. 17 communicates another means by which to accomplish the standing, i.e., by the word of God.


text: The Greek word translated shield ( θυρεός , qureos ) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum , about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.


text: An allusion to Isa 59:17 .


text: The Greek term translated sword ( μάχαιρα , macaira ) refers to the Roman gladius , a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum ]).