Colossians 2

1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you and for those at Laodicea, and for 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, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of 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 all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

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

4 Now I say this that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.

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

5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in 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 therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,

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

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, even as you 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 Be careful that you do not let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elemental spirits of the world, and not after 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 For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,

in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity corporeally.

10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.

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

11 In him you were also 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 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 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from 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 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our 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 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing 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 powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing 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 therefore judge you in eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,

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 things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

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

18 Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

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 firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.

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 you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves 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 “Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch”

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

22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?

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

23 These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but are not of any value against the indulgence 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.