Colossians 2

NEW JERUSALEM	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 I want you to know, then, what a struggle I am having on your behalf and on behalf of those in Laodicea,and on behalf of so many others who have never seen me face to face.	1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 It is all to bind them together in love and to encourage their resolution until they are rich in the assuranceof their complete understanding and have knowledge of the mystery of God	2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 in which al the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.	3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I say this to make sure that no one deceives you with specious arguments.	4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
5 I may be absent in body, but in spirit I am there among you, delighted to find how wel -ordered you areand to see how firm your faith in Christ is.	5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him,	6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing withthanksgiving.	7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Make sure that no one captivates you with the empty lure of a 'philosophy' of the kind that human beingshand on, based on the principles of this world and not on Christ.	8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in al its ful ness,	9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 and in him you too find your own fulfilment, in the one who is the head of every sovereignty and rulingforce.	10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11 In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision performed, not by human hand, but by thecomplete stripping of your natural self. This is circumcision according to Christ.	11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 You have been buried with him by your baptism; by which, too, you have been raised up with himthrough your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead.	12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 You were dead, because you were sinners and uncircumcised in body: he has brought you to life withhim, he has forgiven us every one of our sins.	13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 He has wiped out the record of our debt to the Law, which stood against us; he has destroyed it bynailing it to the cross;	14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 and he has stripped the sovereignties and the ruling forces, and paraded them in public, behind him inhis triumphal procession.	15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Then never let anyone criticise you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals,New Moons or Sabbaths.	16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 These are only a shadow of what was coming: the reality is the body of Christ.	17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Do not be cheated of your prize by anyone who chooses to grovel to angels and worship them, pinningevery hope on visions received, vainly puffed up by a human way of thinking;	18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 such a person has no connection to the Head, by which the whole body, given al that it needs andheld together by its joints and sinews, grows with the growth given by God.	19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
20 If you have really died with Christ to the principles of this world, why do you stil let rules dictate to you,as though you were still living in the world?	20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 -'Do not pick up this, do not eat that, do not touch the other,'	21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 and al about things which perish even while they are being used -- according to merely humancommandments and doctrines!	22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 In these rules you can indeed find what seems to be good sense -- the cultivation of the wil , and ahumility which takes no account of the body; but in fact they have no value against self-indulgence.	23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.