Colossians 2
1 For I would have you know how great a contest I am waging for you and the brethren in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen my face.
Nataka mjue jinsi ninavyojitaabisha kwa ajili yenu na kwa ajili ya wale walioko Laodikia, na pia kwa ajili ya wote ambao hawajapata kuniona mimi binafsi.
2 May their hearts be comforted! May they be knit together in love! May they gain in all its riches the full assurance of their understanding! May they come to a perfect knowledge of the secret truth of God, which is Christ himself.
Kusudi langu ni watiwe moyo na kuunganishwa katika upendo, ili wapate ule utajiri wa ufahamu mkamilifu, ili waijue siri ya Mungu, yaani, Kristo mwenyewe,
3 In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!
ambaye ndani yake kumefichwa hazina zote za hekima na maarifa.
4 And this I say, lest any one should mislead you with enticing words.
Nawaambia mambo haya ili mtu yeyote asiwadanganye kwa maneno ya kuwashawishi.
5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am with you in spirit, happy to note your discipline and the solid front of your faith in Christ.
Kwa kuwa ingawa mimi siko pamoja nanyi kimwili, lakini niko pamoja nanyi kiroho, nami nafurahi kuuona utaratibu wenu na jinsi uthabiti wa imani yenu katika Kristo ulivyo.
6 As then you have received Jesus Christ, your Lord, in him live your lives;
Hivyo basi, kama vile mlivyompokea Kristo Yesu kuwa Bwana, endeleeni kukaa ndani yake,
7 since you are rooted in him, and in him continually built up. Be firmly established in the faith as you were taught it, and continually abound in it with thanksgiving.
mkiwa na mizizi, na mmejengwa ndani yake, mkiimarishwa katika imani kama mlivyofundishwa, na kufurika kwa wingi wa shukrani.
8 Take care lest any man drag you away captive by his philosophy which is a vain deceit, following the traditions of men and the world’s crude notions, and not Christ.
Angalieni mtu yeyote asiwafanye ninyi mateka kwa elimu batili na madanganyo matupu yanayotegemea mapokeo ya wanadamu na mafundisho ya ulimwengu badala ya Kristo.
9 For it is in Christ that all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Maana ukamilifu wote wa Uungu umo ndani ya Kristo katika umbile la mwili wa kibinadamu,
10 and in him you have your fulness, and he is the Lord of all the principalities and powers.
nanyi mmepewa ukamilifu ndani ya Kristo, ambaye ndiye mkuu juu ya kila enzi na kila mamlaka.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands; even in putting off your sensual nature in Christ’s own circumcision,
Katika Kristo pia mlitahiriwa kwa kutengwa mbali na asili ya dhambi, si kwa tohara inayofanywa kwa mikono ya wanadamu, bali kwa ile tohara iliyofanywa na Kristo,
12 when you were buried with him in baptism. In baptism also you were raised with him, through your faith in the energy of that God who raised him from the dead.
mkiwa mmezikwa pamoja naye katika ubatizo, na kufufuliwa pamoja naye kwa njia ya imani yenu katika uweza wa Mungu, aliyemfufua kutoka kwa wafu.
13 And you also, at one time dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sensual nature, he has made alive together with himself. For he forgave us all our transgressions,
Mlipokuwa wafu katika dhambi zenu na kutokutahiriwa katika asili yenu ya dhambi, Mungu aliwafanya mwe hai pamoja na Kristo. Alitusamehe dhambi zetu zote,
14 blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that stood against us and was hostile to us, and took it out of our way, nailing it to his cross.
akiisha kuifuta ile hati yenye mashtaka yaliyokuwa yanatukabili, pamoja na maagizo yake. Aliiondoa isiwepo tena, akiigongomea kwenye msalaba wake.
15 Principalities and powers he disarmed, and openly displayed them as his trophies, when he triumphed over them in the cross.
Mungu akiisha kuzivua enzi na mamlaka, alizifanya kuwa kitu cha fedheha hadharani kwa kuziburura kwa ujasiri, akizishinda katika msalaba wa Kristo.
16 Therefore do not permit any one to sit in judgment on you in regard to what you may eat or drink, or in regard to feast-days or new moons or sabbaths.
Kwa hiyo mtu asiwahukumu ninyi kuhusu vyakula au vinywaji, au kuhusu kuadhimisha sikukuu za dini, au Sikukuu za Mwezi Mwandamo au siku ya Sabato.
17 These were a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Hizi zilikuwa kivuli cha mambo ambayo yangekuja, lakini ile iliyo halisi imo ndani ya Kristo.
18 Let no man at his will defraud you of your prize through his false humility and worship of the angels, taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and vainly puffed up by his material mind;
Mtu yeyote asiwaondolee thawabu yenu kwa kusisitiza kunyenyekea kwake na kuabudu malaika. Mtu kama huyo hudumu katika maono yake, akijivuna bila sababu katika mawazo ya kibinadamu.
19 instead of keeping connection with the Head from the whole body draws nourishment for all its needs by the joints which bind it; and is knit together, and grows with a divine growth.
Yeye amepoteza ushirikiano na Kichwa, ambaye kutoka kwake mwili wote unalishwa na kushikamanishwa pamoja kwa viungo na mishipa, nao hukua kwa ukuaji utokao kwa Mungu.
20 If you died with Christ to the world’s rudimentary notions, why, as if you still lived in the world, do you submit yourselves to dogmatisms found on teachings and doctrines of men -
Kwa kuwa mlikufa pamoja na Kristo, mkayaacha yale mafundisho ya msingi ya ulimwengu huu, kwa nini bado mnaishi kama ninyi ni wa ulimwengu? Kwa nini mnajitia chini ya amri:
21 such as "Do not handle this," "You must not taste that," "Do not touch this" -
“Msishike! Msionje! Msiguse!”?
22 all things which are intended to perish in the using?
Haya yote mwisho wake ni kuharibika yanapotumiwa, kwa sababu msingi wake ni katika maagizo na mafundisho ya wanadamu.
23 For these precepts, although they have a show of wisdom with their self-imposed devotions and fastings and bodily austerities, are of no real value against the indulgence of the carnal appetites.
Kwa kweli amri kama hizo huonekana kama zina hekima, katika namna za ibada walizojitungia wenyewe, na unyenyekevu wa uongo na kuutawala mwili kwa ukali, lakini hayafai kitu katika kuzuia tamaa za mwili.
