| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 1I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. | 1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, |
| 2My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, | 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, |
| 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. | 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. |
| 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. | 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. |
| 6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, | 6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, |
| 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. | 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. |
| 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. | 8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. |
| 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, | 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, |
| 10and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. | 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. |
| 11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, | 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, |
| 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. | 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. |
| 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, | 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, |
| 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. | 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. |
| 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. | 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. |
| 16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. | 16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. |
| 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. | 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. |
| 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. | 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, |
| 19They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. | 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. |
| 20Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: | 20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— |
| 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? | 21“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” |
| 22These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. | 22(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? |
| 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. | 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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