Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timotheus the brother,

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and Timothy our brother:

2 to the holy ones in Colossae, and to the faithful brothers in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

To the people of God and the believing brethren at Colossae who are in Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father.

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do,

4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that [is] to all the holy ones,

because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people,

5 because of the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard of beforehand by the word of the truth of the good news,

on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News.

6 which has come to you, as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit, as also in you, from the day in which you heard, and knew the grace of God in truth,

For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God,

7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful servant of the Christ for you,

as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead,

8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

and moreover he has informed us of your love, which is inspired by the Spirit.

9 Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;

10 to walk worthily of the LORD, pleasing in all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,

so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.

11 in all might being made mighty according to the power of His glory, to all endurance and long-suffering with joy.

Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and long-suffering;

12 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us for the participation of the inheritance of the holy ones in the light,

and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light.

13 who rescued us out of the authority of the darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son,

14 in whom we have the redemption [[through His blood]], the forgiveness of sins,

in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins.

15 who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation,

Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation.

16 because all things were created in Him, those in the heavens, and those on the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him,

For in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers--all were created, and exist through and for Him.

17 and He is before all, and all things have consisted in Him.

And HE IS before all things and in and through Him the universe is a harmonious whole.

18 And He is the head of the body—the Assembly—who is a beginning, a firstborn out of the dead, that He might become first in all [things] Himself,

Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.

19 because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,

For it was the Father's gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him.

20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself—having made peace through the blood of His Cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth, whether the things in the heavens.

And God purposed through Him to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through His blood, which was shed upon the Cross--to reconcile to Himself through Him, I say, things on earth and things in Heaven.

21 And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled,

And you, estranged as you once were and even hostile in your minds, amidst your evil deeds,

22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblemished, and unblameable before Himself,

He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;

23 if you also remain in the faith, being founded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the good news, which you heard, which was preached in all the creation that [is] under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.

if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.

24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for His body, which is the Assembly,

Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.

25 of which I became a servant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--

26 the secret that has been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His holy ones, (aiōn g165)

the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people, (aiōn g165)

27 to whom God willed to make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations—which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,

to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that 'Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'

28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.

29 for which I also labor, striving according to His working that is working in me in power.

To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.