Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 to the holy and believing brothers in Christ who are in Colosse. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

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

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

having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints,

5 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.

because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News

6 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,

which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,

7 as you learned it from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful minister of Jesus Christ in your behalf,

even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf,

8 and it is he who has told me of your love for me in the spirit.

who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

9 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;

For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, do not cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

10 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;

that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

11 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.

strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,

12 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.

giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,

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

who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love,

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

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

15 He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 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;

For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.

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

He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

18 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.

He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19 For in him all the divine fulness chose to dwell;

For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,

20 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.

and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

21 And you, alienated as you once were, hostile at heart in your evil deeds,

You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

22 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.

yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,

23 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.

if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.

24 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.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly,

25 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;

of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God,

26 that secret truth, which, although hidden from ages and generations of old, has now been made manifest to his saints. (aiōn g165)

the mystery which has been hidden for ages (aiōn g165) and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,

27 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."

to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 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.

We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;

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

for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.