Isaiah 41:8-20

English Standard Version

⁸But you, Israel, ^(A)my servant,
    Jacob, ^(B)whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, ^(C)my friend;
⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called ^(D)from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ^(E)my servant,
    ^(F)I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
¹⁰fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with ^(G)my righteous right hand.

¹¹^(H)Behold, all who are incensed against you
    shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
    shall be as nothing and shall perish.
¹²^(I)You shall seek those who contend with you,
    but you shall not find them;
^(J)those who war against you
    shall be as nothing at all.
¹³For I, the Lord your God,
    hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”

¹⁴Fear not, you ^(K)worm Jacob,
    you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
    your ^(L)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵^(M)Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
    new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh ^(N)the mountains and crush them,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff;
¹⁶^(O)you shall winnow them, and ^(P)the wind shall carry them away,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
^(Q)And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷^(R)When the poor and needy seek water,
    and there is none,
    and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
¹⁸^(S)I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
^(T)I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹^(U)I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert ^(V)the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
²⁰that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
that ^(W)the hand of the Lord has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

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Colossians 1:1-20

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and Timothy ^(C)our brother,

²To the ^(D)saints and faithful brothers^[a] in Christ at Colossae:

^(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³^(F)We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴since we heard of ^(G)your faith in Christ Jesus and of ^(H)the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of ^(I)the hope ^(J)laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in ^(K)the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, as indeed ^(L)in the whole world it is ^(M)bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^(N)heard it and understood ^(O)the grace of God in truth, ⁷just as you learned it from ^(P)Epaphras our beloved ^(Q)fellow servant.^[b] He is ^(R)a faithful minister of Christ on your^[c] behalf ⁸and has made known to us your ^(S)love in the Spirit.

⁹And so, ^(T)from the day we heard, ^(U)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that ^(V)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all ^(W)spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so as ^(X)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^(Y)fully pleasing to him: ^(Z)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹^(AA)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for ^(AB)all endurance and patience ^(AC)with joy; ¹²^(AD)giving thanks^[d] to the Father, who has qualified you^[e] to share in ^(AE)the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³He ^(AF)has delivered us from ^(AG)the domain of darkness and transferred us to ^(AH)the kingdom of ^(AI)his beloved Son, ¹⁴^(AJ)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

¹⁵^(AK)He is the image of ^(AL)the invisible God, ^(AM)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by^[f] him all things were created, ^(AN)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(AO)thrones or ^(AP)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(AQ)through him and for him. ¹⁷And ^(AR)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(AS)hold together. ¹⁸And ^(AT)he is the head of the body, the church. He is ^(AU)the beginning, ^(AV)the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹For ^(AW)in him all the ^(AX)fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and ^(AY)through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^(AZ)making peace ^(BA)by the blood of his cross.

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Footnotes

Colossians 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters
Colossians 1:7 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word sundoulos, see Preface
Colossians 1:7 Some manuscripts our
Colossians 1:12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks
Colossians 1:12 Some manuscripts us
Colossians 1:16 That is, by means of; or in