Assurance of God’s Help and a Plea for Healing

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Judgment on the Deceitful

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Life as the Ungodly See It

Error of the Wicked

Salutation

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colos′sae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Paul Thanks God for the Colossians

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—so among yourselves, from the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, ⁷ as you learned it from Ep′aphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our^[a] behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹ And so, from the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us^[b] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Question about the Sabbath

6 On a sabbath,^[a] while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some ears of grain, rubbing them in their hands. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?” ³ And Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” ⁵ And he said to them, “The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.”

The Man with a Withered Hand

⁶ On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷ And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. ⁸ But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And he looked around on them all, and said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.