Colossians 1

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

PAUL, a legate of Jesus the Messiah by the pleasure of God, and Timothy a 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 them who are at Colosse, the brethren, holy and believing in Jesus the Messiah: peace be with you, and grace from God our Father.

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

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, at all times, and pray for you;

4 Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have unto all the saints, —

lo, ever since we heard of your faith in Jesus the Messiah, and of 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 that is laid up for you in heaven, of which ye heard before in the word of 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,

which is announced to you, as also to all the world; and which groweth and yieldeth fruits, as it doth also among you from the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in reality:

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 ye learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of the Messiah;

8 Who also hath made evident unto us your love in spirit.

and who hath made known to us your love 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,

Therefore we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray for you; and to ask that ye may be filled with a knowledge of the good pleasure of God, in all wisdom, and in all spiritual understanding;

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 ye may walk as is right, and may please God with all good works, and may yield fruits, and grow 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,

and may be strengthened with all strength, according to the greatness of his glory, in all patience and long suffering;

12 Giving thanks unto the Father that hath made you sufficient for your share in the inheritance of the saints in the light,

and may, with joy, give thanks to God the Father, who hath fitted us for a portion of the inheritance of the saints in 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;

and hath rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son;

14 In whom, we have our redemption—the remission of our sins, —

by whom we have redemption and remission of sins:

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

who is the likeness of the invisible God, and the first-born of all creatures:

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,

and by him was created every thing that is in heaven and on earth, all that is seen and all that is unseen, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or sovereignties; every thing was through him, and was created by him:

17 And, he, is before all, and, they all, in him, hold together;

and he was prior to all, and by him every thing exists.

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; —

And he is the head of the body the church; as he is the head and first-born from among the dead, that he might be the first in all things.

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

For it pleased the Father, that in him all fullness should 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, to reconcile all things to himself; and through him, he hath pacified, with the blood of his cross, both those on earth and those in heaven.

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 also to you, who were before alienated and enemies in your minds, because of your evil deeds,

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

to you, he hath now given peace, by the body of his flesh, and by his death; that he might establish you in his presence, holy, without blemish, and without offence;

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.

provided ye continue in your faith, your foundation being firm, and ye be not removed from the hope of the gospel; of which ye have heard, that it is proclaimed in all the creation beneath heaven; of which gospel I Paul am 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,

And I rejoice in the sufferings which are for your sakes; and, in my flesh, I fill up the deficiency in the afflictions of the Messiah, in behalf of his body, which is the church;

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,

of which I am a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me among you, that I should fulfill the word of God,

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)

namely, that mystery, which was hidden for ages and generations, but is now revealed 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 whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which mystery is the Messiah; who in you is the hope of our 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;

whom we proclaim, and teach and make known to every man, in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Jesus the Messiah.

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

And for this also, I toil and strive, with the aid of the strength that is imparted to me.