Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

to the holy and believing brothers in Christ who are in Colosse. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

Whenever I pray for you I am continually thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

And just as it is spreading through the whole world, bearing fruit and increasing, so also is it among you, from the day in which you heard it, and came truly to know the grace of God,

For this reason from the day I heard of it I have never ceased to pray for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will with every kind of wisdom and spiritual insight;

that you may walk worthy of the Lord in every kind of pleasing; that you may be fruitful in every kind of good work, and may increase in the knowledge of God;

that you may be strengthened in every kind of strength by the might of his glory for every kind of patience and fortitude with good cheer.

He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

he has now in his human body reconciled to God by his death, in order that he may bring you into his presence, holy and unblemished and irreproachable.

It is of this I was made a minister, according to the stewardship entrusted to me by God for you, fully to declare God's message;

To them God willed to make known among the Gentiles how glorious are the riches of that secret truth, which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

May their hearts be comforted! May they be knit together in love! May they gain in all its riches the full assurance of their understanding! May they come to a perfect knowledge of the secret truth of God, which is Christ himself.

when you were buried with him in baptism. In baptism also you were raised with him, through your faith in the energy of that God who raised him from the dead.

If you then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ abides, seated on the right hand of God.

for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

These things are ever bringing down the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience,

Therefore, as God's chosen people, consecrated and beloved, clothe yourselves with tenderness of heart, kindness, humility, gentleness, good temper;

Let the word of Christ have its home in you richly, in all wisdom. Teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, ever singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

And whatever you do, whether in word of in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God our Father through him.

Keep on praying for me, too, that God may open for me a door of utterance to speak the secret truth of Christ, for which I am a prisoner.

These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, belonging to the circumcision, who have been any comfort to me.

Epaphras, one of yourselves, salutes you, a slave of Christ who is always agonizing for you in his prayers, that you may stand firm, mature, and fully assured in all the will of God.