Colossians 2

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 For I want you to know the kind of solicitude that I have for you, and for those who are at Laodicea, as well as for those who have not seen my face in the flesh.	1 For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you, and for those at La-odicea, and for all who have not seen my face,
2 May their hearts be consoled and instructed in charity, with all the riches of a plenitude of understanding, with knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus.	2 that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ,
3 For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.	3 in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now I say this, so that no one may deceive you with grandiose words.	4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with beguiling speech.
5 For though I may be absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit. And I rejoice as I gaze upon your order and its foundation, which is in Christ, your faith.	5 For 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.
6 Therefore, just as you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, walk in him.	6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him,
7 Be rooted and continually built up in Christ. And be confirmed in the faith, just as you have also learned it, increasing in him with acts of thanksgiving.	7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty falsehoods, as found in the traditions of men, in accord with the influences of the world, and not in accord with Christ.	8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
9 For in him, all the fullness of the Divine Nature dwells bodily.	9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily,
10 And in him, you have been filled; for he is the head of all principality and power.	10 and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
11 In him also, you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, not by the despoiling of the body of flesh, but by the circumcision of Christ.	11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
12 You have been buried with him in baptism. In him also, you have risen again through faith, by the work of God, who raised him up from the dead.	12 and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he enlivened you, together with him, forgiving you of all transgressions,	13 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 and wiping away the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken this away from your midst, affixing it to the Cross.	14 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 And so, despoiling principalities and powers, he has led them away confidently and openly, triumphing over them in himself.	15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
16 Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths.	16 Therefore 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.
17 For these are a shadow of the future, but the body is of Christ.	17 These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one seduce you, preferring base things and a religion of Angels, walking according to what he has not seen, being vainly inflated by the sensations of his flesh,	18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
19 and not holding up the head, with which the whole body, by its underlying joints and ligaments, is joined together and grows with an increase that is of God.	19 and 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.
20 So then, if you have died with Christ to the influences of this world, why do you still make decisions as if you were living in the world?	20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,
21 Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle these things,	21 "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"
22 which all lead to destruction by their very use, in accord with the precepts and doctrines of men.	22 (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines?
23 Such ideas have at least an intention to attain to wisdom, but through superstition and debasement, not sparing the body, and they are without any honor in satiating the flesh.	23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.