Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy my brother, —

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

2 Unto the holy and faithful brethren in Christ that are, in Colosse, favour unto you, and peace, from our God and Father.

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

3 We are giving thanks unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus [Christ], always, for you, offering prayer, —

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 which ye have unto all the saints, —

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

5 Because of the hope that is lying by for you in the heavens, of which ye heard before, in the word of the truth of the glad-message,

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 When it presented itself unto you; even as, in all the world also, it is bearing fruit and growing, even as also among you, from the day when ye heard, and came personally to know the favour 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 Even as ye learned [it] from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is faithful in our behalf, as a minister of the Christ,

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 hath made evident unto us your love in spirit.

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

9 For this cause, we also, from the day when we heard [of you], cease not, in your behalf, praying and asking—that ye may be filled unto the personal knowledge of his will, in all spiritual wisdom and discernment,

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 So as to walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, in every good work, bearing fruit, and growing in the personal 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 With all power, being empowered, according to the grasp of his glory, unto 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 unto the Father that hath made you sufficient for your share in the inheritance of the saints 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 hath 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 our redemption—the remission of our sins, —

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

15 Who, is an image of the unseen God, Firstborn of all creation, —

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

16 Because, in him, were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the things seen and the things unseen, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities, —they all, through him and for him, have been created,

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, they all, in him, hold together;

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

18 And, he, is the head of the body, the assembly, Who is the beginning, Firstborn from among the dead, in order that, he, might become, in all things, himself, pre-eminent; —

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, in him, was all the fullness well pleased to dwell,

For in him all the divine fulness chose to dwell;

20 And, through him, fully to reconcile all things unto him, making peace through the blood of his cross, —[through him]—whether the things upon the earth or 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, who at one time were estranged and enemies in your mind in your wicked works, yet, now, hath he fully reconciled,

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

22 In his body of flesh, through means of his death, to present you holy and blameless and unaccusable before him, —

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, at least, ye are abiding still in the faith, founded and firm, and not to be moved away from the hope of the glad-message which ye have heard, which hath been proclaimed in all creation which is under heaven, —of which, I Paul, have become minister.

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 Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of 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, have become minister—according to the administration of God which hath been given unto me to you-ward, to fill up 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 sacred secret which had been hidden away from the ages and from the generations, but, now, hath been made manifest unto his saints— (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 Unto whom God hath been pleased to make known what is the glorious wealth of this sacred 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 are declaring, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, in order that we may present every man complete in Christ;

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 Unto which I am even toiling, contending according to his energy which is energising itself in me with power.

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