1 Paul, a an apostle of Christ Jesus b by the will of God, and Timothy c our brother,
2 To the d saints and faithful brothers [1] in Christ at Colossae:
e Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 f We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of g your faith in Christ Jesus and of g the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of h the hope i laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in j the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed k in the whole world it is l bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you m heard it and understood n the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from o Epaphras our beloved p fellow servant. [2] He is p a faithful minister of Christ on your [3] behalf 8 and has made known to us your q love in the Spirit.
9 And so, r from the day we heard, s we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that t you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all u spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as v to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, w fully pleasing to him, x bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 y May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for z all endurance and patience a with joy, 12 b giving thanks [4] to the Father, who has qualified you [5] to share in c the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He d has delivered us from e the domain of darkness and transferred us to f the kingdom of g his beloved Son, 14 h in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 i He is the image of j the invisible God, k the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by [6] him all things were created, l in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether m thrones or n dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created o through him and for him. 17 And p he is before all things, and in him all things q hold together. 18 And r he is the head of the body, the church. He is s the beginning, t the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For u in him all the v fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and w through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, x making peace y by the blood of his cross.
21 z And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, a doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled b in his body of flesh by his death, c in order to present you holy and blameless and d above reproach before him, 23 e if indeed you continue in the faith, f stable and steadfast, not shifting from g the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed h in all creation [7] under heaven, i and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now j I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh k I am filling up l what is lacking in Christ's afflictions m for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 n of which I became a minister according to o the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 p the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 q To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are r the riches of the glory of p this mystery, which is Christ in you, s the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that t we may present everyone u mature in Christ. 29 For this v I toil, w struggling x with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
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