1 PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Ti-mo'the-us our brother,

2 To those who are at Colosse, holy brethren and believers in Jesus Christ: Peace be with you, and grace from God our Father and our LORD Jesus Christ.

3 Always we give thanks to God, the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, and always we pray for you,

4 Since we heard of your faith in Jesus Christ, and of your love for all the saints,

5 For the hope which is preserved for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the true word of the gospel;

6 Which has been preached to you, just as it has been preached throughout the world; growing and bringing forth fruits, as it does also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth;

7 Just as you have learned it from Ep'a-phras our beloved fellow-servant, who is for your sakes a faithful minister of Christ:

8 And who has made known to us your love for spiritual things.

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and in all spiritual understanding;

10 That you might live a righteous life, please God with all good works, and bring forth good fruits, and grow in the knowledge of God;

11 And be strengthened with all might, according to the greatness of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering,

12 So that you may joyfully give thanks to God the Father, who has enlightened us and made us worthy partakers of the inheritance of the saints;

13 And has delivered us from the power of darkness, and brought us to the kingdom of his beloved Son:

14 By whom we have obtained salvation and forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature:

16 And through him were created all things that are in heaven, and on earth, visible and invisible; whether imperial thrones, or lordships, or angelic orders, or dominions, all things were in his hand and were created by him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things are sustained.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: for he is the beginning, the firstfruits of the resurrection from the dead; that in all things he might be the first;

19 For it pleased God to complete all things in him;

20 And by his hand to reconcile everything to himself; and through his blood shed on the cross made peace both for those who dwell on earth and for those who dwell in heaven.

21 Even to you, who in times past were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil works, has been given peace,

22 Through the sacrifice of his body and his death, so that he may raise you before him, holy, and without reproach and blameless:

23 If you continue in your faith and your foundation is firm, and if you are not moved from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which has been preached to every creature which is under heaven and for which I, Paul, have become a minister;

24 And now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and make up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

25 For which I became a minister, according to the dispensation of God which has been given to me for you, fully to preach the word of God everywhere;

26 Even the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now is revealed to his saints:

27 To whom God wanted to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ among you, the hope of our glory;

28 Him we preach, and teach, and make known to every man in all wisdom, that we may bring up every man perfect through Jesus Christ;

29 And to this end, I labour and strive through the help of the power which is given to me.