Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother.

² To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and prayer for the Colossians

³ We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴ We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. ⁵ You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, ⁶ which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. ⁸ He informed us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. ¹⁰ We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; ¹² and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. ¹³ He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. ¹⁴ He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.

Hymn about Christ’s work

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions. ²² But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame. ²³ But you need to remain well established and rooted in faith and not shift away from the hope given in the good news that you heard. This message has been preached throughout all creation under heaven. And I, Paul, became a servant of this good news.

Paul’s service for the church

²⁴ Now I’m happy to be suffering for you. I’m completing what is missing from Christ’s sufferings with my own body. I’m doing this for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵ I became a servant of the church by God’s commission, which was given to me for you, in order to complete God’s word. ²⁶ I’m completing it with a secret plan^[c] that has been hidden for ages and generations but which has now been revealed to his holy people. ²⁷ God wanted to make the glorious riches of this secret plan^[d] known among the Gentiles, which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ This is what we preach as we warn and teach every person with all wisdom so that we might present each one mature in Christ. ²⁹ I work hard and struggle for this goal with his energy, which works in me powerfully.

4 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves, knowing that you yourselves have a master in heaven.

² Keep on praying and guard your prayers with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray for us also. Pray that God would open a door for the word so we can preach the secret plan^[a] of Christ—which is why I’m in chains. ⁴ Pray that I might be able to make it as clear as I ought to when I preach. ⁵ Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. ⁶ Your speech should always be gracious and sprinkled with insight so that you may know how to respond to every person.

Final greeting

⁷ Tychicus, our dearly loved brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave in the Lord, will inform you about everything that has happened to me. ⁸ This is why I sent him to you, so that you’ll know all about us and so he can encourage your hearts. ⁹ I sent him with Onesimus, our faithful and dearly loved brother, who is one of you. They will let you know about everything here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, says hello to you. So does Mark, Barnabas’ cousin (you received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him). ¹¹ Jesus, called Justus, also says hello. These are my only fellow workers for God’s kingdom who are Jewish converts. They have been an encouragement to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, says hello. He’s a slave of Christ Jesus who always wrestles for you in prayers so that you will stand firm and be fully mature and complete in the entire will of God. ¹³ I can vouch for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas say hello.

¹⁵ Say hello to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, along with Nympha and the church that meets in her house. ¹⁶ After this letter has been read to you publicly, make sure that the church in Laodicea reads it and that you read the one from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And tell Archippus, “See to it that you complete the ministry that you received in the Lord.”

¹⁸ I, Paul, am writing this greeting personally. Remember that I’m in prison. Grace be with you.