| Christian Standard Bible | Berean Study Bible |
| 1For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. | 1For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, |
| 2I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery--Christ. | 2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, |
| 3In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. | 4I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. |
| 5For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ. | 5For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. |
| 6So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, | 6Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, |
| 7being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. | 7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. |
| 8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. | 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. |
| 9For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, | 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. |
| 10and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. | 10And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. |
| 11You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, | 11In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. |
| 12when you were 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. | 12And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. |
| 13And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. | 13When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, |
| 14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. | 14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! |
| 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him. | 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. |
| 16Therefore, don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. | 16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. |
| 17These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. | 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. |
| 18Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. | 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. |
| 19He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God. | 19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. |
| 20If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: | 20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: |
| 21"Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"? | 21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? |
| 22All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. | 22These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. |
| 23Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. | 23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. |
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