| NET Bible | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, | 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother: |
| 2to the saints, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you from God our Father! | 2To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father. |
| 3We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, | 3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, |
| 4since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. | 4for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints |
| 5Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel | 5because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel |
| 6that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. | 6that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God's grace. |
| 7You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave--a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf-- | 7You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, |
| 8who also told us of your love in the Spirit. | 8and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. |
| 9For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, | 9For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, |
| 10so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects--bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, | 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, |
| 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully | 11being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully |
| 12giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. | 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. |
| 13He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, | 13He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. |
| 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. | 14In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. |
| 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, | 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. |
| 16for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him--all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers--all things were created through him and for him. | 16For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through him and for him. |
| 17He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. | 17He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. |
| 18He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. | 18He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. |
| 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son | 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, |
| 20and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross--through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. | 20and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. |
| 21And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, | 21Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds expressed in your evil actions. |
| 22but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him-- | 22But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him-- |
| 23if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant. | 23if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it. |
| 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body--for the sake of his body, the church--what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. | 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for his body, that is, the church. |
| 25I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God--given to me for you--in order to complete the word of God, | 25I have become its servant, according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, |
| 26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. | 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. |
| 27God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. | 27God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. |
| 28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. | 28We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. |
| 29Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me. | 29I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me. |
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