Ephesians 4:8

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ¹  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ² 

This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."

Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."

That is why the Scriptures say, "When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people."

The text for this is, He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people.

For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men.

Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people."

Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men."

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured ¹  captives; he gave gifts to men.” ² 

¹ tn Grk “he led captive captivity.”

² sn A quotation which is perhaps ultimately derived from Ps 68:18. However, the wording here differs from that of Ps 68 in both the Hebrew text and the LXX in a few places, the most significant of which is reading “gave gifts to” in place of “received gifts from” as in HT and LXX. It has sometimes been suggested that the author of Ephesians modified the text he was citing in order to better support what he wanted to say here. Such modifications are sometimes found in rabbinic exegesis from this and later periods, but it is also possible that the author was simply citing a variant of Ps 68 known to him but which has not survived outside its quotation here (W. H. Harris, The Descent of Christ [AGJU 32], 104). Another possibility is that the words here, which strongly resemble Ps 68:19 HT and LXX (68:18 ET), are actually part of an early Christian hymn quoted by the author.