Colossians 1-4

Complete Jewish Bible

1 From: Sha’ul, by God’s will an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy

² To: God’s people in Colosse, faithful brothers in the Messiah:

Grace to you and shalom from God our Father.

³ Whenever we pray, we always give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. ⁴ For we have heard of your trust in the Messiah Yeshua and of the love you have for all God’s people. ⁵ Both spring from the confident hope that you will receive what is stored up for you in heaven. You heard of this earlier in the message about the truth. This Good News ⁶ has made its presence felt among you, just as it is also being fruitful and multiplying^[a] throughout the world in the same way as it has among you since the day you heard and understood the grace of God as it really is. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-slave and a faithful worker for the Messiah on your behalf; ⁸ and he has told us about the love which the Spirit has given you.

⁹ Therefore, from the day we heard of it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all the wisdom and understanding which the Spirit gives; ¹⁰ so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God. ¹¹ We pray that you will be continually strengthened with all the power that comes from his glorious might; so that you will be able to persevere and be patient in any situation, joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father for having made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people in the light. ¹³ He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

¹⁴ It is through his Son that we have redemption — that is, our sins have been forgiven. ¹⁵ He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, ¹⁶ because in connection with him were created all things — in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities — they have all been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He existed before all things, and he holds everything together.

¹⁸ Also he is head of the Body, the Messianic Community — he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything. ¹⁹ For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son ²⁰ and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.

²¹ In other words, you, who at one time were separated from God and had a hostile attitude towards him because of your wicked deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in the Son’s physical body through his death; in order to present you holy and without defect or reproach before himself — ²³ provided, of course, that you continue in your trusting, grounded and steady, and don’t let yourselves be moved away from the hope offered in the Good News you heard.

This is the Good News that has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven; and I, Sha’ul, have become a servant of it. ²⁴ I rejoice in my present sufferings on your behalf! Yes, I am completing in my own flesh what has been lacking of the Messiah’s afflictions, on behalf of his Body, the Messianic Community. ²⁵ I became a servant of the Good News because God gave me this work to do for your benefit. The work is to make fully known the message from God, ²⁶ the secret hidden for generations, for ages, but now made clear to the people he has set apart for himself. ²⁷ To them God wanted to make known how great among the Gentiles is the glorious richness of this secret. And the secret is this: the Messiah is united with you people! In that rests your hope of glory! ²⁸ We, for our part, proclaim him; we warn, confront and teach everyone in all wisdom; so that we may present everyone as having reached the goal, united with the Messiah. ²⁹ It is for this that I toil, striving with all the energy that he stirs up in me so mightily.

2 For I want you to know how hard I work for you, for those in Laodicea, and for the rest of those who have not met me personally. ² My purpose is that they may be encouraged, that they may be joined together in love, and that they may have all the riches derived from being assured of understanding and fully knowing God’s secret truth, which is — the Messiah! ³ It is in him that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

⁴ I say this so that no one will fool you with plausible but specious arguments. ⁵ For although I am away from you physically, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I see the disciplined and resolute firmness of your trust in the Messiah. ⁶ Therefore, just as you received the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, keep living your life united with him. ⁷ Remain deeply rooted in him; continue being built up in him and confirmed in your trust, the way you were taught, so that you overflow in thanksgiving.

⁸ Watch out, so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, following human tradition which accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not accord with the Messiah. ⁹ For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is. ¹⁰ And it is in union with him that you have been made full — he is the head of every rule and authority.

¹¹ Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, ¹² you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. ¹³ You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,” your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. ¹⁴ He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. ¹⁵ Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake.

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah.

¹⁸ Don’t let anyone deny you the prize by insisting that you engage in self-mortification or angel-worship. Such people are always going on about some vision they have had, and they vainly puff themselves up by their worldly outlook. ¹⁹ They fail to hold to the Head, from whom the whole Body, receiving supply and being held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow. ²⁰ If, along with the Messiah, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, then why, as if you still belonged to the world, are you letting yourselves be bothered by its rules? — ²¹ “Don’t touch this!” “Don’t eat that!” “Don’t handle the other!” ²² Such prohibitions are concerned with things meant to perish by being used [not by being avoided!], and they are based on man-made rules and teachings.^{[b] 23} They do indeed have the outward appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed religious observances, false humility and asceticism; but they have no value at all in restraining people from indulging their old nature.

3 So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God.^{[c] 2} Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. ⁴ When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory!

⁵ Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature — sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (which is a form of idolatry); ⁶ for it is because of these things that God’s anger is coming on those who disobey him. ⁷ True enough, you used to practice these things in the life you once lived; ⁸ but now, put them all away — anger, exasperation, meanness, slander and obscene talk. ⁹ Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways, ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in fuller and fuller knowledge, closer and closer to the image of its Creator. ¹¹ The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.

¹⁴ Above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together perfectly; ¹⁵ and let the shalom which comes from the Messiah be your heart’s decision-maker, for this is why you were called to be part of a single Body.

And be thankful — ¹⁶ let the Word of the Messiah, in all its richness, live in you, as you teach and counsel each other in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude to God in your hearts. ¹⁷ That is, everything you do or say, do in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

¹⁸ Wives, subject yourselves to your husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and don’t treat them harshly.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything; for this pleases the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, don’t irritate your children and make them resentful, or they will become discouraged.

²² Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not serving only when they are watching you, to win their favor, but single-heartedly, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever work you do, put yourself into it, as those who are serving not merely other people, but the Lord. ²⁴ Remember that as your reward, you will receive the inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah. ²⁵ Don’t worry — whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for his wrong, and there is no favoritism shown.

4 Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly. Remember that you too have a Master in heaven.

² Keep persisting in prayer, staying alert in it and being thankful. ³ Include prayer for us, too, that God may open a door for us to proclaim the message about the secret of the Messiah — for that is why I am in prison. ⁴ And pray that I may speak, as I should, in a way that makes the message clear.

⁵ Behave wisely toward outsiders, making full use of every opportunity — ⁶ let your conversation always be gracious and interesting, so that you will know how to respond to any particular individual.

⁷ Our dear brother Tychicus, who is a faithful worker and fellow-slave in the Lord, will give you all the news about me. ⁸ I have sent him to you for this very reason — so that you might know how we are, and so that he might encourage you. ⁹ I have sent him with Onesimus, the dear and faithful brother, who is one of you; they will tell you everything that has happened here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends greetings, as does Mark, Bar-Nabba’s cousin, concerning whom you have received instructions — if he comes to you, welcome him. ¹¹ Yeshua, the one called Justus, also sends greetings. These three are among the Circumcised; and among my fellow workers for the Kingdom of God, only they have turned out to be a comfort to me.

¹² Epaphras sends greetings; he is one of you, a slave of the Messiah Yeshua who always agonizes in his prayer on your behalf, praying that you may stand firm, mature and fully confident, as you devote yourselves completely to God’s will. ¹³ For I can testify to him that he works hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send you greetings.

¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, also to Nympha and the congregation that meets in her home. ¹⁶ After this letter has been read to you, have it read also in the congregation of the Laodiceans; and you, in turn, are to read the letter that will come from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And tell Archippus, “See that you complete the task you were given in the Lord.”

¹⁸ This greeting I, Sha’ul, write with my own hand.

Remember my imprisonment!

Grace be with you!