1Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy [our] brother, 2to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse: Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the charity [which ye have] toward all the saints, 5for the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which ye have already heard by the word of the truth of the gospel, 6which is come unto you, as [it is] in all the world, and brings forth fruit, as [it does] also in you, since the day ye heard [it] and knew the grace of God in truth, 7as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, 8who also declared unto us your charity in [the] Spirit. 9For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you, asking that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10that ye might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing [him] in everything, being fruitful in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God, 11strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, 12giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us worthy to participate in the inheritance of the saints in light, 13who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son, 14in whom we have redemption through his blood, [even] the remission of sins, 15who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; 16for by him were all things created, that [are] in the heavens and that [are] in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they are] thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and in him; 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fullness dwell 20and by him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his stake, whether [they are] the things in the earth or the things in the heavens. 21And you, that were in another time alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled [you] 22in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight 23if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and [are] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard [and] which is preached to every creature which is under heaven, of which I Paul am made a minister, 24who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fulfill in my flesh that which [is] lacking of the tribulations of the Christ for his body's sake, which is the church, 25of which I am made a minister by the dispensation of God which is given to me in you, to fulfil the word of God, 26[even] the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, 27to whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery in the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, 28whom we preach, warning every man and teaching in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, 29In which I continue to labour, contending according to his operation, which he works in me mightily.: