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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Colossians 2 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/colossians/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/colossians/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Colossians 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../colossians/1.htm" title="Colossians 1">◄</a> Colossians 2 <a href="../colossians/3.htm" title="Colossians 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/colossians/2.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>For 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, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>that 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, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>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.</p> <p class="heading">Alive in Christ</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or elementary principles; also verse 20">a</a></sup></span> of the world, and not according to Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>having 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And 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, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>He disarmed the rulers and authorities<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Probably demonic rulers and authorities">b</a></sup></span> and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or in it (that is, the cross)">c</a></sup></span></p> <p class="heading">Let No One Disqualify You</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or about the things he has seen">d</a></sup></span> puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>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.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>If 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— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>These 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.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">8</span> Or <i>elementary principles</i>; also verse 20<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">15</span> Probably demonic rulers and authorities<br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">15</span> Or <i><span class="catch-word">in</span> it</i> (that is, the cross)<br /><span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">18</span> Or <i><span class="catch-word">about</span> the things he has seen</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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