| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, | 1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. |
| 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, | 2My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of 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. |
| 4I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. | 4I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. |
| 5For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. | 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ. |
| 6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, | 6Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, |
| 7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. | 7rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. |
| 8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. | 8Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. |
| 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, | 9For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, |
| 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. | 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. |
| 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, | 11In him you also were circumcised--not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ. |
| 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. | 12Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. |
| 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, | 13And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. |
| 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. | 14He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. |
| 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. | 15Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. |
| 16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. | 16Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days-- |
| 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. | 17these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! |
| 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, | 18Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. |
| 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. | 19He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. |
| 20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— | 20If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? |
| 21“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” | 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" |
| 22(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? | 22These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. |
| 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. | 23Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body--a wisdom with no true value--they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. |
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