Colossians 2

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN 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 want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you and for those in Laodicea and all who have not seen me face to face,
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 may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,
3 in which al the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.	3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I say this to make sure that no one deceives you with specious arguments.	4 I say this so that no one may deceive you by specious arguments.
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 even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I observe your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6 So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him,	6 So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk 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 in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in 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 See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.
9 In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in al its ful ness,	9 For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity 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 you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every 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 him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with 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 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who 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 even when you were dead (in) transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions;
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 obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross;
15 and he has stripped the sovereignties and the ruling forces, and paraded them in public, behind him inhis triumphal procession.	15 despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by 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 one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath.
17 These are only a shadow of what was coming: the reality is the body of Christ.	17 These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to 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 one disqualify you, delighting in self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, inflated without reason 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 closely to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and bonds, achieves the growth that comes from 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 If you died with Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why do you submit to regulations as if you were still living in the world?
21 -'Do not pick up this, do not eat that, do not touch the other,'	21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"
22 and al about things which perish even while they are being used -- according to merely humancommandments and doctrines!	22 These are all things destined to perish with use; they accord with human precepts and teachings.
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 While they have a semblance of wisdom in rigor of devotion and self-abasement (and) severity to the body, they are of no value against gratification of the flesh.