This verse continues the prayer from verse 14. Verse 15 is a parenthetical comment which slightly interrupts the prayer; that is why here in verse 16 Good News Translation has restarted the prayer with I ask God. This may be rendered as “I pray to God.” If, however, one uses a term meaning “ask,” it is important to use one which refers to asking for something rather than to asking a question.

“According to the wealth of his glory” (Hdb|fig:Table_EPH3-13.jpg): see 1.18 for the same phrase; here the phrase stands for spiritual resources, blessings from heaven, so it can be translated, “because of the great blessings he has in heaven.”

Verses 16-17 embody the request “that he give you”; the objects of the verb are the two infinitives “to be strengthened” (verse 16) and “to dwell” (verse 17).

“With power (for you) to be strengthened”: the noun power is in the dative case and so denotes the instrument or means (see Revised Standard Version); it can be taken as an adverb: “mightily/strongly strengthened”; Good News Translation has power … to be strong (similarly Jerusalem Bible); New English Bible, Translator’s New Testament express the meaning with two nouns “grant you strength and power.” The Greek verb for “to make strong” (from a noun meaning “might, strength”; see 1.19; 6.10) is used here in the passive voice “to be made strong.” Although not formally expressed in Greek, the subject is “you,” “for you to be made strong.”

To give you power … to be strong may be rendered as “to cause you to be strong,” but this must not refer merely to physical strength. In order to suggest something of the spiritual aspects involved, one may translate “cause you to be strong in your heart” or “… in your mind.”

Through his Spirit: the Spirit of God is the means by which he gives strength to his people. In some instances this must be a separate sentence, for example, “it is God’s Spirit that causes this to happen” or “it is God’s Spirit that makes you strong.”

In your inner selves translates “in/into the inner man”; this is virtually the same in meaning as in your hearts in the next verse. The readers need spiritual strength, not physical force. For other instances of the phrase “the inner man” see Romans 7.22 (Good News Translation inner being) and 2 Corinthians 4.16 (Good News Translation spiritual being). But eis may be given the meaning “into,” indicating motion, by reading the Greek “through the Spirit, who enters (or, works in) your inner selves.”

In some languages an expression such as “strong in your spirits” will convey the correct idea. Others will use something like “strong in your hearts,” and still others will have an expression such as “strong in yourselves.” Many translations emphasize the fact that it is God’s Spirit that makes his people spiritually strong: “I ask God from the wealth of his glory that his Spirit give you power so that you are strong in your spirits (or, in yourselves).”

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 .