| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. | 1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, |
| 2To: The holy and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah. May grace and peace from God our Father be yours! | 2to the saints, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you from God our Father! |
| 3We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, praying always for you, | 3We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, |
| 4because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, | 4since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. |
| 5based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope through the word of truth, the gospel | 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 |
| 6that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. | 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. |
| 7You learned about this gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of the Messiah on your behalf. | 7You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave--a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf-- |
| 8He has told us about your love in the Spirit. | 8who also told us of your love in the Spirit. |
| 9For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will with respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding, | 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, |
| 10so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full knowledge of God. | 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, |
| 11You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy | 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully |
| 12and might thank the Father, who has enabled us to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. | 12giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. |
| 13God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, | 13He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, |
| 14through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. | 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. |
| 15The Son 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 by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. | 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. |
| 17He himself existed before anything else did, and he holds all things together. | 17He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. |
| 18He is also the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might have first place in everything. | 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. |
| 19For God was pleased to have all of his divine essence inhabit him. | 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son |
| 20Through the Son, God also reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, thereby making peace through the blood of his cross. | 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. |
| 21You who were once alienated with a hostile attitude, doing evil, | 21And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, |
| 22he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body, so that he may present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him. | 22but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him-- |
| 23However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. | 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. |
| 24Now I am rejoicing while suffering for you as I complete in my flesh whatever remains of the Messiah's sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church. | 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. |
| 25I became its servant as God commissioned me to work for you, so that I may complete my ministry of the word of God. | 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, |
| 26This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints, | 26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. |
| 27to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles—which is the Messiah in you, our glorious hope. | 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. |
| 28It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish and wisely teach everyone, so that we may present everyone mature in the Messiah. | 28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. |
| 29I work hard and struggle to do this, using the energy that he powerfully provides in me. | 29Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me. |
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