Colossians 1

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

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 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 holy and believing brothers in Christ who are in Colosse. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

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

Whenever I pray for you I am continually thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

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

(since I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love to all the saints)

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,

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Long ago you heard of this hope in the message which came to you of the truth of the gospel.

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,

And just as it is spreading through the whole world, bearing fruit and increasing, so also is it among you, from the day in which you heard it, and came truly 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 slave. He is a faithful minister of Jesus Christ in your behalf,

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

and it is he who has told me of your love for me in 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 from the day I heard of it I have never ceased to pray for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will with every kind of wisdom and spiritual insight;

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

that you may walk worthy of the Lord in every kind of pleasing; that you may be fruitful in every kind of good work, and may increase in the 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.

that you may be strengthened in every kind of strength by the might of his glory for every kind of patience and fortitude with good cheer.

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

I ask that you may give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the heritage of the saints in the light.

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

For he has delivered us out of the dominion of the darkness, and transplanted us into the kingdom of his dear Son,

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

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

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

He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn 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 the universe created, things in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; by him and for him all have been created;

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

and HE IS before all, and in him all things subsist.

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,

He is the head of his Body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that in all things he may become preeminent.

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

For in him all the divine fulness chose to dwell;

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 by him it chose to reconcile all things alike on earth or in heaven to himself; making peace by him, through the blood of his cross.

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

And you, alienated as you once were, hostile at heart in 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, in order that he may bring you into his presence, holy and unblemished and irreproachable.

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.

And this he will do if, indeed, you continue in the faith, firmly founded and stedfast, and never moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, and which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, that gospel of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

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,

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings on your behalf; and I am filling up in my own body what is yet lacking of the sufferings of Christ in behalf of the church, his Body.

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,

It is of this I was made a minister, according to the stewardship entrusted to me by God for you, fully to declare 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)

that secret truth, which, although hidden from ages and generations of old, has now been made manifest to his saints. (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 them God willed to make known among the Gentiles how glorious are the riches of that secret truth, which is "Christ 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 I am ever proclaiming, warning every one and teaching every one, in all wisdom; that I may bring every man into his presence, full grown in Christ.

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

For that end I am ever toiling, wrestling with all that energy of his which is mightily at work within me.