Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother:

To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

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

that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth.

so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.

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

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

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ.

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,

Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.

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

Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient,

Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

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,

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.