1:1 Paul, an emissary of Yehoshua Messiah through the will of Elohim, and Timothy the brother,
1:2 to the set-apart ones and faithful brothers in Messiah in Colosse: Grace and shalom to you from Elohim our Father and the Master Yehoshua Messiah.
1:3 We give thanks always to Elohim, the Father of our Master, Yehoshua Messiah, and we always pray for you,
1:4 hearing of your belief in Messiah Yehoshua and the love toward all the set-apart ones,
1:5 because of the hope which is preserved for you in Heaven, which you heard before in the Word of the truth of the good news,
1:6 which has been preached to you, as also in all the world, and it is bearing fruit even also among you, from the day in which you heard and knew the grace of Elohim in truth;
1:7 even as you also learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-slave, who is a faithful minister of Messiah for you,
1:8 he also showing to us your love in the ruach.
1:9 For this cause also, from the day in which we heard, we do not cease praying on your behalf, and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of the will of Elohim in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
1:10 That you may live a righteous life pleasing to Elohim and bearing fruit in every good work and growing into the full knowledge of Elohim;
1:11 being empowered with all power according to the might of His glory, to all patience and long-suffering with joy;
1:12 So that you may joyfully give thanks to Elohim the Father, who has enlightened and made us a worthy inheritance of the set-apart ones,
1:13 and has delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved son,
1:14 in whom we have obtained salvation, and the forgiveness of sins;
1:15 who is the image of the invisible Elohim, the right of the First-born of all creation1.
1:16 For all things were created because of Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether imperial thrones, or dominions, or messenger orders, or authorities, all things were in His hand and have been created through Him2.
1:17 And He is before all things, and by Him all things are sustained.
1:18 And He is the Head of the body, the House of assembly, who is the Beginning, the First-born of the resurrection of the dead, that He be preeminent in all things3;
1:19 because it pleased Elohim to complete all things in Him,
1:20 and through Him making shalom by the blood of His crucifixion, to reconcile all things to Himself; through Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in the heavens.
1:21 And you then being alienated and hostile in your mind by evil works, but now shalom has been given,
1:22 through the sacrifice of His body, and His death, so that He may raise you before Him set apart and without blemish and blameless,
1:23 if indeed you continue in the belief grounded and settled and not being moved away from the hope of the good news which you have heard and which has been preached in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister,
1:24 and now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up in my flesh the things lacking of the afflictions of Messiah on behalf of His body, which is the House of assembly,
1:25 of which I became a minister, according to the stewardship of Elohim given to me for you, to preach the Word of Elohim everywhere,
1:26 even the mystery having been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but now is revealed to His set-apart ones;
1:27 to whom Elohim willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory4;
1:28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may cause every man to become perfect in Messiah Yehoshua,
1:29 and to this end I also labor, struggling according to the working of Him who works in me in power.
2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have concerning you, and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2:2 that their hearts may be comforted, being joined together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of the understanding, to the full knowledge of the mystery of Elohim, even of the Father and of Messiah,
2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
2:4 And I say this that no one may beguile you with persuasive words.
2:5 For though I am indeed absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in ruach, rejoicing and seeing your order and the firmness of your belief in Messiah.
2:6 Therefore, just as you accepted Messiah Yehoshua our Master, so you must be led by Him,
2:7 being rooted and being built up in Him, and being confirmed in the belief, even as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
2:8 Watch that there not be one misleading you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition (takanot) of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Messiah.
2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of divinity bodily;
2:10 and it is through Him, that you have been made complete, for He is the Head of all messenger orders and authority,
2:11 in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands5, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Messiah,
2:12 being buried with Him in immersion, and by Him you were raised with Him for you believed in the power of Elohim, who raised Him from the dead.
2:13 And you, who were once dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has granted to live with Him, having forgiven you all your sins,
2:14 and, by his mandates, he canceled the legal contract6 of our sins, which existed against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His torture stake.
2:15 And by putting off His mortal body, He exposed the powers of evil, and through His person put them openly to shame.
2:16 Therefore do not let anyone7 judge8 among you about eating, or drinking, or in how you keep the feast days, or the new moon, or the Sabbath day9,
2:17 which remain shadows of coming things10, but the body of Messiah11.
2:18 Let no one, by pretense of sincerity, doom you so that you worship messengers; for he is bold about things which he has not seen, and foolishly he is vainly inflated in his intellectual superiority12.
2:19 That person does not uphold the Head, by whom all the body is constructed and stands with the joints and members, and grows through the discipline of Elohim.
2:20 If, then, you died with Messiah from the elements of the world, why are you under its decrees, as living in the world?
2:21 Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
2:22 for these things are customs which are changeable; and they are the command and doctrines of men13. (Isa. 29:13)
2:23 Which things indeed appear to be a matter of having wisdom when presented by the humble person in reverence for Elohim, provided they disregard the things of the flesh, not those things which are honorable, but only those things which satisfy the pleasures of the flesh.
3:1 If, then, you were raised with Messiah, seek the things above, where Messiah is sitting at the right hand of Elohim; (Psa. 110:1)
3:2 set your mind on the things above, not on things on the earth.
3:3 For you died, and your life has been hidden with Messiah in Elohim.
3:4 Whenever Messiah our life is revealed, then also you will be revealed with Him in glory.
3:5 Then put to death your members which are on the earth: temple prostitution, uncleanness, passion, evil lust, and covetousness, for these are idolatry;
3:6 on account of which things the wrath of Elohim is coming on the deeds of disobedience,
3:7 among whom you also walked at one time, when you were living in these.
3:8 But now, you also, put off all these things: wrath, anger, malice, evil-speaking, filthy conversation out of your mouth.
3:9 Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his practices,
3:10 and put on the new life which is renewed in knowledge after the pattern in which it was originally created14,
3:11 where there is neither Yehudi or Aramean, circumcision and uncircum-cision, foreigner, Scythian, slave or freeman, but Messiah is all and in all men.
3:12 Therefore, as the elect of Elohim, set apart and beloved, put on bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering,
3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any; even as Messiah forgave you, so also you should forgive.
3:14 And above all these, have love, which is the bond of perfection.
3:15 And let the shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts, for that goal you are called in one body, and be thankful to Messiah.
3:16 Let the Word of Messiah dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and exhorting yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to Elohim.
3:17 And everything, whatever you do in word or in work, do all things in the name of our Master Yehoshua, giving thanks to Elohim the Father through Him.
3:18 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as is fitting in Messiah15.
3:19 Husbands, love the wives and do not be bitter against them16.
3:20 Children, obey the parents in all things, for this is pleasing to Elohim.17
3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children,18 that they may not be discouraged.
3:22 Servants, obey the Masters according to flesh in all respects19, not with eye-service as hypocrites, but with a sincere heart, giving reverence to Elohim.
3:23 And whatever you may do, do it from your whole soul as to our Master and not as to men,
3:24 knowing that from the Master you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Master, Messiah.
3:25 But the one doing wrong will receive what he did wrong, and there is no respect of persons.
4:1 Masters, give what is just and equal to the slaves, knowing that you have a Master in Heaven also. (Eph 6:9)
4:2 Steadfastly continue in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving,
4:3 praying together about us also, that Elohim may open to us a door of the Word, to speak the mystery of Messiah, on account of which I also have been bound,
4:4 that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.
4:5 Live wisely in shalom with those who are outside the house of assembly, and avoid offending.
4:6 Let your word be always with grace, having been seasoned with salt, to know how you ought to answer each one.
4:7 All the things about me, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in Yehovah, will make known to you,
4:8 whom I sent to you for this very thing, that he might know the things about you, and that he might comfort your hearts,
4:9 with Onesimus the faithful and beloved brother, who is of you. They will make known to you all the things here.
4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, also Mark the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received orders. If he comes to you, receive him.
4:11 And Yeshua, the one being called Justus, those being of the circumcision, greet you, and the only fellow workers with me for the kingdom of Elohim, who became a comfort to me.
4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Messiah, greets you, always striving for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in every will of Elohim.
4:13 For I bear witness to him, that he has much zeal on your behalf, and those in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis.
4:14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, also Demas.
4:15 Greet the brothers in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the House of assembly that meets at his house20.
4:16 And when this epistle is read before you, cause that it be read also in the Laodicean House of assembly, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
4:17 And say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you received in our Master, that you may fulfill it.
4:18 This greeting is by my hand, Paul. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. Amen.