Ephesians 1:9 Question

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Greetings,

I was reading Ephesians, and noticed a difference in how the ESV and NASB render Ephesians 1:9. Is the ESV completely missing the "pleasure" or "kind intention" from the Greek? I don't know any Greek, so I can't understand why such a decision would have been made. Thanks.

ESV: "making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ..."

NASB: "He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him..."
 
Greetings,

I was reading Ephesians, and noticed a difference in how the ESV and NASB render verse 9. Is the ESV completely missing the "pleasure" or "kind intention" from the Greek? I don't know any Greek, so I can't understand why such a decision would have been made. Thanks.

ESV: "making know to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ..."

NASB: "He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him..."
It looks like most translations say something akin to "good pleasure:" http://biblehub.com/ephesians/1-9.htm

The Greek word is eudokia, eu- meaning good, and dokeo meaning think or seem.

It seems like most translations take it to mean that God did that which seemed good to him; so, his "good pleasure," or "purpose." The NASB appears to uniquely take eudokia as a reference to God's good intention, rather than to his inscrutable wisdom, in this passage.

The term can apparently mean both, though. Thayer's lexicon says that it can mean "good will," "kindly intent," or "benevolence."

I'm a babe in diapers when it comes to Greek, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I derived most of the information in this post from this page: http://biblehub.com/greek/2107.htm
 
Given that the ESV is a revision of the RSV, in which Eph. 1:9 is essentially the same. The solution to "why" anything remotely related to a positive adjective preceding "purpose" is omitted would begin with the translation team's intentions.

εὐδοκία, -ας, ἡ, (fr. εὐδοκέω, as εὐλογία fr. εὐλογέω)
1. will, choice:, in particular, good-will, kindly intent, benevolence.
2. delight, pleasure, satisfaction, favor.
3. desire, wish.
 
By the by, the reader may find this site of use for quick lookups without having to launch some behemoth software tool, albeit using the older NA26 and UBS3:

http://www.greekbible.com/

Click any word in a passage entered for details. Very handy.

Afterwards, try
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph
http://logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/resources/abbott-smith.html (you will have to copy and paste a Greek word unless you want to scroll about)
https://www.laparola.net/greco/louwnida.php

The Gold standard, BDAG:
https://www.amazon.com/Greek-English-Lexicon-Testament-Christian-Literature/dp/0226039331

https://www.logos.com/product/3878/...t-and-other-early-christian-literature-3rd-ed (The earlier BAGD version of Logos [if you still have it] has far more hyperlinking to library resourecs (8,000+ vs. 1,800+) than this newer version within Logos. See also this.)
 
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