Colossians 1

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

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

2 to the believers and faithful brothers in Christ who are at Colossae. May grace be to you, and peace from God our Father.

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!

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

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

4 We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all those set apart for God.

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

5 You have this love because of the certain hope reserved for you in heaven. You heard about this confident expectation before in the word of truth, the gospel,

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,

6 which has come to you. This gospel is bearing fruit and is growing in all the world. It has been doing this in you also from the day you heard it and learned about the grace of God in truth.

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,

7 This is the gospel as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.

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

8 Epaphras has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

9 Because of this love, from the day we heard this we have not stopped praying for you. We have been asking that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

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,

10 We have been praying that you will walk worthily of the Lord in pleasing ways. We have been praying that you will bear fruit in every good deed and that you will grow in the knowledge of God.

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

11 We pray you may be strengthened in every ability according to the power of his glory into all perseverance and patience.

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

12 We pray that you will joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has made you able to have a share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

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

13 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

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

14 In his Son we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

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

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of all creation.

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

16 For by him all things were created, those in the heavens and those on the earth, the visible and the invisible things. Whether thrones or dominions or governments or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.

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,

17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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

18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so he has first place among all things.

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,

19 For God was pleased that all his fullness should live in him,

because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,

20 and to reconcile through the Son all things to himself. God made peace through the blood of his cross. God reconciled all things to himself, whether the things on the earth or the things in heaven.

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.

21 At one time, you also were strangers to God and were his enemies in mind and in evil deeds.

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

22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death. He did this in order to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach before him,

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

23 if you continue in the faith, established and firm, not moved away from the certain hope of the gospel that you heard. This is the gospel that was proclaimed to every person created under heaven. This is the gospel of which I, Paul, became a servant.

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.

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church.

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,

25 It is of this church that I am a servant, according to the responsibility from God that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.

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,

26 This is the secret truth that was hidden for ages and for generations. But now it has been revealed to those who believe in him. (aiōn g165)

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

27 It is to them that God wanted to make known the riches of the glory of this secret truth among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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,

28 This is he whom we proclaim. We admonish every person, and we teach every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.

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

29 For this I labor and strive according to his energy that is at work in me in power.

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