I want you to know how hard I am contending(A) for you and for those at Laodicea,(B) and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart(C) and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery(D) of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.(E) I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.(F) For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit(G) and delight to see how disciplined(H) you are and how firm(I) your faith in Christ(J) is.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,(K) continue to live your lives in him, rooted(L) and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,(M) and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,(N) which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world(O) rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness(P) of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head(Q) over every power and authority.(R) 11 In him you were also circumcised(S) with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b](T) was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism,(U) in which you were also raised with him(V) through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.(W)

13 When you were dead in your sins(X) and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive(Y) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,(Z) 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,(AA) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.(AB) 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities,(AC) he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them(AD) by the cross.[e]

Freedom From Human Rules

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you(AE) by what you eat or drink,(AF) or with regard to a religious festival,(AG) a New Moon celebration(AH) or a Sabbath day.(AI) 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come;(AJ) the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility(AK) and the worship of angels disqualify you.(AL) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head,(AM) from whom the whole body,(AN) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.(AO)

20 Since you died with Christ(AP) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,(AQ) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:(AR) 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish(AS) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.(AT) 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility(AU) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Footnotes

  1. Colossians 2:8 Or the basic principles; also in verse 20
  2. Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
  3. Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the circumcision of
  4. Colossians 2:13 Some manuscripts us
  5. Colossians 2:15 Or them in him

A Prophecy Against Moab(A)

15 A prophecy(B) against Moab:(C)

Ar(D) in Moab is ruined,(E)
    destroyed in a night!
Kir(F) in Moab is ruined,
    destroyed in a night!
Dibon(G) goes up to its temple,
    to its high places(H) to weep;
    Moab wails(I) over Nebo(J) and Medeba.
Every head is shaved(K)
    and every beard cut off.(L)
In the streets they wear sackcloth;(M)
    on the roofs(N) and in the public squares(O)
they all wail,(P)
    prostrate with weeping.(Q)
Heshbon(R) and Elealeh(S) cry out,
    their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.(T)
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
    and their hearts are faint.

My heart cries out(U) over Moab;(V)
    her fugitives(W) flee as far as Zoar,(X)
    as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to Luhith,
    weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim(Y)
    they lament their destruction.(Z)
The waters of Nimrim are dried up(AA)
    and the grass is withered;(AB)
the vegetation is gone(AC)
    and nothing green is left.(AD)
So the wealth they have acquired(AE) and stored up
    they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
    their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
    their lamentation as far as Beer(AF) Elim.
The waters of Dimon[a] are full of blood,
    but I will bring still more upon Dimon[b]
a lion(AG) upon the fugitives of Moab(AH)
    and upon those who remain in the land.

16 Send lambs(AI) as tribute(AJ)
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela,(AK) across the desert,
    to the mount of Daughter Zion.(AL)
Like fluttering birds
    pushed from the nest,(AM)
so are the women of Moab(AN)
    at the fords(AO) of the Arnon.(AP)

“Make up your mind,” Moab says.
    “Render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
    at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,(AQ)
    do not betray the refugees.
Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
    be their shelter(AR) from the destroyer.”

The oppressor(AS) will come to an end,
    and destruction will cease;(AT)
    the aggressor will vanish from the land.
In love a throne(AU) will be established;(AV)
    in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
    one from the house[c] of David(AW)
one who in judging seeks justice(AX)
    and speeds the cause of righteousness.

We have heard of Moab’s(AY) pride(AZ)
    how great is her arrogance!—
of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;
    but her boasts are empty.
Therefore the Moabites wail,(BA)
    they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
    for the raisin cakes(BB) of Kir Hareseth.(BC)
The fields of Heshbon(BD) wither,(BE)
    the vines of Sibmah(BF) also.
The rulers of the nations
    have trampled down the choicest vines,(BG)
which once reached Jazer(BH)
    and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out(BI)
    and went as far as the sea.[d](BJ)
So I weep,(BK) as Jazer weeps,
    for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and Elealeh,(BL)
    I drench you with tears!(BM)
The shouts of joy(BN) over your ripened fruit
    and over your harvests(BO) have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;(BP)
    no one sings or shouts(BQ) in the vineyards;
no one treads(BR) out wine at the presses,(BS)
    for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab(BT) like a harp,(BU)
    my inmost being(BV) for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,(BW)
    she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine(BX) to pray,
    it is to no avail.(BY)

13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: “Within three years,(BZ) as a servant bound by contract(CA) would count them,(CB) Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised,(CC) and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”(CD)

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy(CE) against Damascus:(CF)

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.(CG)
The cities of Aroer(CH) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,(CI) which will lie down,(CJ)
    with no one to make them afraid.(CK)
The fortified(CL) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory(CM) of the Israelites,”(CN)
declares the Lord Almighty.

“In that day(CO) the glory(CP) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste(CQ) away.
It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering(CR) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain(CS)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.(CT)
Yet some gleanings will remain,(CU)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,(CV)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

In that day(CW) people will look(CX) to their Maker(CY)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One(CZ) of Israel.
They will not look to the altars,(DA)
    the work of their hands,(DB)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[e](DC)
    and the incense altars their fingers(DD) have made.

In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.(DE) And all will be desolation.

10 You have forgotten(DF) God your Savior;(DG)
    you have not remembered the Rock,(DH) your fortress.(DI)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,(DJ)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning(DK) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest(DL) will be as nothing(DM)
    in the day of disease and incurable(DN) pain.(DO)

12 Woe to the many nations that rage(DP)
    they rage like the raging sea!(DQ)
Woe to the peoples who roar(DR)
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!(DS)
13 Although the peoples roar(DT) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes(DU) them they flee(DV) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff(DW) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.(DX)
14 In the evening, sudden(DY) terror!(DZ)
    Before the morning, they are gone!(EA)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.
  2. Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.
  3. Isaiah 16:5 Hebrew tent
  4. Isaiah 16:8 Probably the Dead Sea
  5. Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah

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