Passage

Colossians 1.15-19

Book: Colossians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"13. who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14. in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:"

"15. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16. for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17. and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;"

"20. and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works," (Colossians 1:13-21, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"13. who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love; 14. in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins;"

"15. who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16. For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. 17. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. 18. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19. For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;"

"20. and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross. 21. You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds," (Colossians 1:13-21, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: ^{his: Gr. the Son of his love} 14. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"

"15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. ^{in: or, among all} 19. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;"

"20. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. ^{having: or, making} 21. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled ^{in: or, by your mind in}" (Colossians 1:13-21, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"13. who did rescue us out of the authority of the darkness, and did translate [us] into the reign of the Son of His love, 14. in whom we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of the sins,"

"15. who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation, 16. because in him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through him, and for him, have been created, 17. and himself is before all, and the all things in him have consisted. 18. And himself is the head of the body, the assembly, who is a beginning, a first-born out of the dead, that he might become in all [things], himself, first, 19. because in him it did please all the fulness to tabernacle,"

"20. and through him to reconcile the all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether the things upon the earth, whether the things in the heavens. 21. And you, once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now did he reconcile," (Colossians 1:13-21, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.