We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints

because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel

For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy

For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.

For God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him,

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church.

I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known,

the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints.

I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person.

For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,

For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.

In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men,

For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.

>

Masters, supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah, for which I am in prison,

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts.

and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcision are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always contending for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills.

For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.