PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS

Chapter 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, through the will of God, and brother Timothy,
2 to the saints and believing brethren in Christ in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are thanking the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying concerning you,
4 on hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints,
5 because of the expectation reserved for you in the heavens, which you hear before in the word of truth of the evangel,
6 which, being present with you, according as in the entire world also, is bearing fruit and growing, according as it is among you also, from the day on which you hear and realized the grace of God in truth,
7 according as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful dispenser of Christ for us,
8 who makes evident also to us your love in spirit.
9 Therefore we also, from the day on which we hear, do not cease praying for you and requesting that you may be filled full with the realization of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
10 you to walk worthily of the Lord for all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the realization of God;
11 being endued with all power, in accord with the might of His glory, for all endurance and patience with joy;
12 at the same time giving thanks to the Father, Who makes you competent for a part of the allotment of the saints, in light,
13 Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness, and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in Whom we are having the deliverance, the pardon of sins,
15 Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature,
16 for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him,
17 and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.
18 And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first,
19 for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell,
20 and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens.
21 And you, being once estranged and enemies in comprehension, by wicked acts, yet now He reconciles
22 by His body of flesh, through His death, to present you holy and flawless and unimpeachable in His sight,
23 since surely you are persisting in the faith, grounded and settled and are not being removed from the expectation of the evangel which you hear which is being heralded in the entire creation which is under heaven of which I, Paul, became the dispenser.
24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and am filling up in my flesh, in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the ecclesia
25 of which I became a dispenser, in accord with the administration of God, which is granted to me for you, to complete the word of God --
26 the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints,
27 to whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory --
28 Whom we are announcing, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we should be presenting every man mature in Christ Jesus;
29 for which I am toiling also, struggling in accord with His operation, which is operating in me with power.

Chapter 2
1 For I want you to perceive what the struggle amounts to which I am having for your sakes and for those in Laodicea, and whoever have not seen my face in flesh,
2 that their hearts may be consoled, being united in love, and to all the riches of the assurance of understanding, unto a realization of the secret of the God and Father, of Christ,
3 in Whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are concealed.
4 Now I am saying this, that no one may be beguiling you with persuasive words.
5 For even if, in flesh, I am absent, nevertheless, in spirit, I am with you, rejoicing and observing your order and the stability of your faith in Christ.
6 As, then, you accepted Christ Jesus, the Lord, be walking in Him,
7 having been rooted and being built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith according as you were taught, superabounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware that no one shall be despoiling you through philosophy and empty seduction, in accord with human tradition, in accord with the elements of the world, and not in accord with Christ,
9 for in Him the entire complement of the Deity is dwelling bodily.
10 And you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of every sovereignty and authority,
11 in Whom you were circumcised also with a circumcision not made by hands, in the stripping off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ.
12 Being entombed together with Him in baptism, in Whom you were roused together also through faith in the operation of God,
13 Who rouses Him from among the dead, you also being dead to the offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He vivifies us together jointly with Him, dealing graciously with all our offenses,
14 erasing the handwriting of the decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and has taken it away out of the midst, nailing it to the cross,
15 stripping off the sovereignties and authorities, with boldness He makes a show of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no one, then, be judging you in food or in drink or in the particulars of a festival, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of those things which are impending -- yet the body is the Christ's.
18 Let no one be arbitrating against you, who wants, in humility and the ritual of the messengers, to parade what he has seen, feignedly, puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding the Head, out of Whom the entire body, being supplied and united through the assimilation and ligaments, is growing in the growth of God.
20 If, then, you died together with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as living in the world, are you subject to decrees:
21 "You should not be touching, nor yet tasting, nor yet coming into contact,"
22 (which things are all for corruption from use), in accord with the directions and teachings of men? --
23 which are (having, indeed, an expression of wisdom in a willful ritual and humility and asceticism) not of any value toward the surfeiting of the flesh.

Chapter 3
1 If, then, you were roused together with Christ, be seeking that which is above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Be disposed to that which is above, not to that on the earth,
3 for you died, and your life is hid together with Christ in God.
4 Whenever Christ, our Life, should be manifested, then you also shall be manifested together with Him in glory.
5 Deaden, then, your members that are on the earth: prostitution, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry,
6 because of which the indignation of God is coming on the sons of stubborness --
7 among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these things.
8 Yet now you also be putting away all these: anger, fury, malice, calumny, obscenity out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, stripping off the old humanity together with its practices,
10 and putting on the young, which is being renewed into recognition, to accord with the Image of the One Who creates it,
11 wherein there is no Greek and Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and in all is Christ.
12 Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, pitiful compassions, kindness, humility, meekness, patience,
13 bearing with one another and dealing graciously among yourselves, if anyone should be having a complaint against any. According as the Lord also deals graciously with you, thus also you.
14 Now over all these put on love, which is the tie of maturity.
15 And let the peace of Christ be arbitrating in your hearts, for which you were called also in one body; and become thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ be making its home in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourselves; in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs, singing, with grace in your hearts to God.
17 And everything, whatsoever you may be doing, in word or in act, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God, the Father, through Him.
18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your own wives and be not bitter toward them.
20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing in the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not vex your children, lest they may be disheartened.
22 Slaves, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-slavery, as manpleasers, but with singleness of heart, fearing the Lord.
23 All, whatsoever you may be doing, work from the soul, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 Being aware that from the Lord you will be getting the compensation of the enjoyment of an allotment: for the Lord Christ are you slaving.
25 For he who is injuring shall be requited for that which he injures, and there is no partiality.

Chapter 4
1 Masters, tender that which is just and equitable to your slaves, being aware that you also have a Master in the heavens.
2 In prayer be persevering, watching in it with thanksgiving,
3 praying at the same time concerning us also, that God should be opening for us a door of the word, to speak the secret of Christ, because of which I am bound also,
4 that I should be making it manifest, as I must speak.
5 In wisdom be walking toward those outside, reclaiming the era,
6 your word being always with grace, seasoned with salt, perceiving how you must answer each one.
7 All my affairs shall be made known to you by Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow slave in the Lord,
8 whom I send to you for this same thing, that you may know that which concerns you and he should be consoling your hearts,
9 together with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known to you all things here.
10 Greeting you is Aristarchus, my fellow captive, and Mark, cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you obtained directions: if he should be coming to you, receive him),
11 and Jesus, termed Justus, who are of the Circumcision. These are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who became a solace to me.
12 Greeting you is Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, always struggling for you in prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
13 For I am testifying of him that he has much misery over you and those in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.
14 Greeting you is Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas.
15 Greet the brethren in Laodicea, and Nympha and the ecclesia at her house.
16 And whenever the epistle should be read to you, cause that it should be read in the Laodicean ecclesia also, and that you also may be reading that out of Laodicea.
17 And say to Archippus: "Look to the service which you accepted in the Lord, that you may be fulfilling it."
18 The salutation is by my hand -- Paul's. Remember my bonds! Grace be with you! Amen!

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