Ephesians 2:12-14

Expanded Bible

¹² Remember that ·in the past [at that time/season] you were without ·Christ [the Messiah]. You were ·not citizens [^Lexcluded from the citizenship] of Israel, and you ·had no part in [^Lwere aliens/strangers to] the ·agreements with the promise that God made to his people [^Lcovenants of promise; ^Cthe Abrahamic (Gen. 12:1–3), Mosaic (Ex. 19—24), and Davidic (2 Sam. 7) covenants.] You had no hope, and you did not know God. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of ·Christ’s death [^LChrist; ^Cblood symbolizing his sacrificial death]. ¹⁴ Christ himself is our peace. He made ·both Jews and Gentiles one people [^Lboth one], and broke down the wall of ·hate [hostility; enmity] that divided them [^Cthe wall beyond which Gentiles could not pass in the Jerusalem temple, or the law of Moses that distinguished Jew from Gentile (see v. 15)] ·by giving his own body [^Lin his flesh; ^Cthis phrase may go with the following sentence].