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Chapter 1 |
| 1 | Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
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| 2 | To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. |
| 3 |
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you, |
| 4 | Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,
and of the love which ye have to all the saints, |
| 5 | For the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel; |
| 6 | Which is come unto you, as it is in all the
world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard
of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: |
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7 | As ye also learned of
Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of
Christ; |
| 8 |
Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. |
| 9 |
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding; |
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10 | That ye might walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God; |
| 11 | Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness; |
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12 | Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: |
| 13 | Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son: |
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14 | In whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins: |
| 15 | Who is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: |
| 16 | For by him
were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him, and for him: |
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17 | And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. |
| 18 | And 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. |
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19 | For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fulness dwell; |
| 20 | And, having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by
him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. |
| 21 |
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled |
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22 | In the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his
sight: |
| 23
| If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was
preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a
minister; |
| 24
| Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's
sake, which is the church: |
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25 | Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil
the word of God; |
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26 | Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and
from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: |
| 27 | To whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: |
| 28 | Whom we
preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: |
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29 | Whereunto I also
labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. |
