Colossians 2

1 For I wish you to know how great a conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

And I wish you to know, what a struggle I have for you, and for them of Laodicea, and for the others who have not seen my face in the flesh;

2 that their hearts may be comforted, being united in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of the understanding, to the full knowledge of the secret of the God and Father, and of the Christ,

that their hearts may be comforted, and that they, by love, may come to all the riches of assurance, and to the understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father, and of the Messiah,

3 in whom are all the treasures of the wisdom and the knowledge hid,

in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.

4 and this I say, that no one may beguile you in enticing words,

And this I say, lest any one should mislead you by the persuasiveness of words.

5 for if even in the flesh I am absent — yet in the spirit I am with you, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in regard to Christ;

For though I am separated from you in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit; and I rejoice at beholding your good order, and the stability of your faith in the Messiah.

6 as, then, ye did receive Christ Jesus the Lord, in him walk ye,

As therefore ye have received Jesus the Messiah our Lord, walk ye in him,

7 being rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as ye were taught — abounding in it in thanksgiving.

strengthening your roots and building up yourselves in him, and establishing yourselves in the faith which ye have learned, in which may ye abound in thanksgiving.

8 See that no one shall be carrying you away as spoil through the philosophy and vain deceit, according to the deliverance of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ,

Beware, lest any man make you naked by philosophy, and by vain deception, according to the doctrines of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to the Messiah,

9 because in him doth tabernacle all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity corporeally.

10 and ye are in him made full, who is the head of all principality and authority,

And in him ye are also complete, because he is the head of all principalities and authorities.

11 in whom also ye were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of the Christ,

And in him ye have been circumcised with a circumcision without hands, by casting off the flesh of sins, by a circumcision of the Messiah.

12 being buried with him in the baptism, in which also ye rose with [him] through the faith of the working of God, who did raise him out of the dead.

And ye have been buried with him, by baptism; and by it ye have risen with him; while ye believed in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 And you — being dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh — He made alive together with him, having forgiven you all the trespasses,

And you, who were dead in your sins, and by the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath vivified with him; and he hath forgiven us all our sins:

14 having blotted out the handwriting in the ordinances that is against us, that was contrary to us, and he hath taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross;

and, by his mandates, he blotted out the handwriting of our debts, which handwriting existed against us, and took it from the midst, and affixed it to his cross.

15 having stripped the principalities and the authorities, he made a shew of them openly — having triumphed over them in it.

And, by yielding up his body, he showed contempt for principalities and authorities; and put them to shame, openly, in his own person.

16 Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths,

Let no one therefore disquiet you about food and drink, or about the distinctions of festivals, and new moons, and sabbaths;

17 which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body [is] of the Christ;

which were shadows of the things then future; but the body is the Messiah.

18 let no one beguile you of your prize, delighting in humble-mindedness and [in] worship of the messengers, intruding into the things he hath not seen, being vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh,

And let no one wish, by abasing the mind, to bring you under bonds, that ye subject yourselves to the worship of angels; while he is prying into that which he hath not seen, and is vainly inflated in his fleshly mind,

19 and not holding the head, from which all the body — through the joints and bands gathering supply, and being knit together — may increase with the increase of God.

and holdeth not the head, from which the whole body is framed and constructed, with joints and members, and groweth with the growth given of God.

20 If, then, ye did die with the Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?

For if ye are dead with the Messiah from the rudiments of the world, why are ye judged as if ye were living in the world?

21 — thou mayest not touch, nor taste, nor handle —

But, touch thou not, and taste thou not, and handle thou not:

22 which are all for destruction with the using, after the commands and teachings of men,

for these things perish in the using; and they are the commandments and doctrines of men.

23 which are, indeed, having a matter of wisdom in will-worship, and humble-mindedness, and neglecting of body — not in any honour, unto a satisfying of the flesh.

And they seem to have a kind of wisdom, in a show of humility, and of the fear of God, and of not sparing the body; not in any thing of excellence, but in things subservient to the body.