Ephesians 6:3

ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἔσῃ μακροχρόνιος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς : that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the land. The quotation of the commandment is continued according to the LXX, but with some variations, viz., ἔσῃ for γένῃ, and the omission of τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἧς (Exodus 20:12, or ἧς alone as in Deuteronomy 5:16) Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου δίδωσί σοι. This clause is omitted perhaps as less suitable to those addressed (Abb.); or it may be with a view to generalise the statement and relieve it of all restrictions but those which necessarily condition the promises of temporal blessings (Ell.). Meyer strangely supposes that the quotation is left unfinished simply because the readers could easily complete it for themselves. In that case it might have been even shorter. The first clause promises temporal good generally; the second the particular blessing, so associated in the OT with the idea of the Divine favour, of length of days. The ἔσῃ is explained by not a few (Erasm., De Wette, Win., etc.; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 361) as a case of oratio variata, a transition from the ἵνα construction to direct narrative, = “and thou shalt be,” as the RV margin puts it. But there is no necessity for supposing such a change in the construction, as ἵνα with the fut. indic, though strange to Attic Greek (which yet uses ὅπως with that tense and mood), is found in the NT (1 Corinthians 9:18; Revelation 22:14). In Attic Greek the idea would have been expressed not by εὖ γενέσθαι, but by εὖ πάσχειν, εὖ πράττειν or similar form (Mey.). In the OT original, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς refers of course to the land of Canaan. Meyer thinks it must retain its historical sense here. But that, in its literal completeness, would be something inapplicable to Paul's Christian readers. The fact that the quotation is broken off at this point, and that the more restricted, national terms of the OT promise are omitted, might warrant us in giving the phrase the larger sense of “on the earth” (with RV text). But it is best to take the phrase as far as possible in its historical sense, and translate it “on the land” (RV marg.), i.e., the land on which your Christian lot is cast.