| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, | 1For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, |
| 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, | 2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, |
| 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. | 4I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. |
| 5For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. | 5For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. |
| 6As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, | 6Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, |
| 7rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. | 7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. |
| 8Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. | 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. |
| 9For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; | 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. |
| 10and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. | 10And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. |
| 11In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, | 11In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. |
| 12buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. | 12And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. |
| 13And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, | 13When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, |
| 14having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. | 14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! |
| 15Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. | 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. |
| 16So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, | 16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. |
| 17which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. | 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. |
| 18Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, | 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. |
| 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. | 19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. |
| 20Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— | 20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: |
| 21“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” | 21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? |
| 22which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? | 22These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. |
| 23These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. | 23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. |
|
