| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have 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 struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen 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 assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery--Christ. | 2Because they are united in love, I pray that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah, who is the mystery of God. |
| 3All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. | 3In him are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. | 4I say this so that no one will mislead you with nice-sounding 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 physically absent, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how stable you are and how firm your faith in the Messiah is. |
| 6Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, | 6So then, just as you have received the Messiah Jesus the Lord, continue to live dependent on him. |
| 7rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. | 7For you have been rooted in him and are being built up and strengthened in the faith, just as you were taught, while you continue to be thankful. |
| 8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. | 8See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to the Messiah, |
| 9For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, | 9because all the essence of deity inhabits him in bodily form. |
| 10and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. | 10And you have been filled by him, who is the head of 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 the Messiah. | 11In union with him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without human hands by stripping off the corrupt nature by the circumcision performed by the Messiah. |
| 12Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. | 12When you were buried with the Messiah in baptism, you were also raised with him through 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. | 13Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses, |
| 14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. | 14having erased the charges that were brought against us, along with their obligations that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross. |
| 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him. | 15And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in 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 in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbath days. |
| 17These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. | 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Messiah. |
| 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind. | 18Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by rejoicing about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up for no reason by his carnal mind. |
| 19He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God. | 19He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it. |
| 20If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces 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 the Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world? |
| 21Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"? | 21"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!" |
| 22All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. | 22All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings. |
| 23Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. | 23These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they have no value against self-indulgence. |
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