Colossians 2

NEW JERUSALEM	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
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 greatly I strive for you, and for those at La-odicea, and for all who have not seen my 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 knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, 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 I say this in order that no one may delude you with beguiling speech.
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 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 So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him,	6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live 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 established in the faith, just 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 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 In him, in bodily form, lives divinity in al its ful ness,	9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells 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 have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
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 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 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 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 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, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our 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 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, 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 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
16 Then never let anyone criticise you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals,New Moons or 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 These are only a shadow of what was coming: the reality is the body of Christ.	17 These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance 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, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous 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 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 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 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 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 (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines?
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 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.