¹⁷ He is before all things,^(A) and in him all things hold together.

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.^{[a] 30} And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.^(A)

²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(A) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](B) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,^(A) so that people are without excuse.^(B)

¹⁶ For in him all things were created:^(A) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;^(B) all things have been created through him and for him.^(C)

³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory^(A) and the exact representation of his being,^(B) sustaining all things^(C) by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,^(D) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.^(E)