1Paul, an apostle of by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in who are at Colossae: to you and peace from God our . 3We give thanks to God, the of our Lord Christ, praying always for you, 4since we heard of your faith in and the love which you have for all the saints; 5because of the reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the 6which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the of in truth; 7just as you it from , our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of on our behalf, 8and he also informed us of your love in the . 9For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased for you and asking that you may be filled with the of His will in all wisdom and understanding, 10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the , to please Him in all , fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of ; 11 with all power, according to His might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously 12giving thanks to the , who has you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the of His beloved , 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of . 15He is the image of the invisible , the firstborn of all creation: 16for by Him all things were , both in the and on earth, and , whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been through Him and for Him. 17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold . 18He is also the head of the body, the ; and He is the , the from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19For it was the good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20and through Him to all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made through the blood of His . 21And although you were and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, 22yet He has now you in His body of flesh through , in order to present you before Him and blameless and beyond reproach— 23if indeed you in the firmly established and steadfast, and not shifting from the of the that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. 24Now I in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in afflictions in behalf of His body, which is the . 25I was made a of this according to the commission from granted to me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of , 26that is, the which had been hidden from the past ages and , but now has been revealed to His saints, 27to whom willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this among the Gentiles is, the that is in you, the hope of glory. 28We Him, every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in . 29For this I also labor, according to His power which works mightily within me.