This verse, which follows without a break from verse 17, is composed of two participial clauses. The Greek is as follows: “through every prayer and petition praying on every occasion in (the) spirit, and for this keeping alert with all persistence and petition for all the saints.” Though the syntax is jumbled, the meaning is clear enough: the readers are told to pray constantly. The writer uses the verb “to pray,” the noun “prayer,” and the synonymous noun “petition” twice. To emphasize constancy and continuity, he uses the prepositional phrase “through every” at the very beginning of the verse; “on every occasion”; “keeping alert” (a Greek verb which means “unable to sleep”; it is used elsewhere in the New Testament in Matt 12.33; Luke 21.36; Heb 13.17), and “with all persistence.”

The same kind of vocabulary (though not as extensive) is used in narrative in Acts 1.14; 6.4; the two nouns “prayer and petition” are used together by Paul in Philippians 4.6 (see also 1 Tim 2.1; 5.5). The noun, translated “persistence” occurs only here in the New Testament; but the related verb “be persistent” is used in this same kind of context by Paul in Romans 12.12 and also in Colossians 4.2.

Do all this in prayer may be restructured as “pray as you do all this.” The focus is primarily upon prayer, not upon the doing.

Asking for God’s help may be restructured as “ask God to help you” or “as you pray, ask God to help you.”

A literal translation of Pray on every occasion might imply “Pray whenever you are asked to.” But it is usually better to translate “Whatever you are doing, pray” or “For whatever you are engaged in, pray.”

The prayer is to be made “in the Spirit” (Revised Standard Version), which Good News Translation represents by as the Spirit leads; Translator’s New Testament, New English Bible “in the power of the Spirit.” It may be difficult to translate literally as the Spirit leads, for there is no direct “leading,” at least not in the physical sense. Therefore it may be better to translate “as the Spirit prompts you to pray” or “as the Spirit suggests to you that you should pray.” On the other hand, if one follows the interpretation “in the power of the Spirit,” it may be more satisfactory to translate “with the Spirit helping you” or “with the Spirit giving you the strength to pray as you should.”

It is not easy to know precisely what is meant by keep alert; it does not seem probable that it is meant literally (as Jerusalem Bible “staying awake” translates). The writer seems to have left behind the metaphor of the warrior and is now speaking directly of the need for believers to pray constantly. So they are never to lose interest or get tired.

It seems quite certain that one would not want to translate keep alert as “keep awake.” In this context it might be appropriate to translate “remain sensitive to the prompting of God’s Spirit” or “keep on listening to God’s Spirit.” But it is probably more satisfactory to translate “do not give up,” so that in reality keep alert is simply the positive way of rendering the negative expression never give up. Therefore sometimes the two can be combined in an emphatic expression “under no circumstance at all should you ever give up.”

Good News Translation asking for God’s help translates the noun “petition”; never give up translates the phrase “with all persistence.” For this reason represents the Greek expression “For this,” which could perhaps be better translated by “For this purpose” (New English Bible, Barth “To this end”; New International Version “With this in mind”).

Pray always should not be interpreted to mean being continually and constantly in prayer. The final admonition in verse 18 may be rendered as “whenever you pray, pray for all of God’s people.”

Beare’s comment on this verse is worth quoting: “the unsleeping alertness is to be shown especially in persevering intercession on behalf of all his comrades in the fight. We are not engaged in single combat with the powers of evil, but are members of an army; and we must be concerned with the welfare of all who fight alongside us.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .