We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

for the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven, of which you heard before in the Word of the truth of the gospel,

even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ for you,

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

For He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son;

For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.

of which I became a minister, according to the administration of God given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God;

For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

For which I also labor, striving according to the working of Him who works in me in power.

For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

For these are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

which things are all for corruption in the using, according to the commands and doctrines of men?

These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility, and unsparing severity of the body, but are not of any value for the satisfying of the flesh.

For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ.

But he who does wrong shall receive justice for the wrong which he did, and there is no respect of persons.

praying together about us also, that God may open to us a door of the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I also have been bound,

I sent him to you for this very purpose, that he might know the things about you, and that he might comfort your hearts,

and greetings from Jesus, who is called Justus, those being of the circumcision. These alone are my fellow-workers for the kingdom of God, who became a comfort to me.

Epaphras greets you, he being of you, a servant of Christ, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

For I bear him record that he has a great zeal for you and for those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.