| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 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. | 1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. |
| 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. | 2My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, |
| 3In him are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I say this so that no one will mislead you with nice-sounding rhetoric. | 4I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. |
| 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. | 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ. |
| 6So then, just as you have received the Messiah Jesus the Lord, continue to live dependent on him. | 6Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, |
| 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. | 7rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. |
| 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, | 8Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. |
| 9because all the essence of deity inhabits him in bodily form. | 9For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, |
| 10And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. | 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. |
| 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. | 11In him you also were circumcised--not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ. |
| 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. | 12Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. |
| 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, | 13And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. |
| 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. | 14He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. |
| 15And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross. | 15Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. |
| 16Therefore, let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbath days. | 16Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days-- |
| 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Messiah. | 17these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! |
| 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. | 18Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. |
| 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. | 19He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. |
| 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? | 20If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? |
| 21"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!" | 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" |
| 22All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings. | 22These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. |
| 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. | 23Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body--a wisdom with no true value--they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. |
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