Passage

Colossians 4.3

Book: Colossians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. 2. Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;"

"3. withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;"

"4. that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time." (Colossians 4:1-5, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 2. Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;"

"3. praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;"

"4. that I may reveal it as I ought to speak. 5. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time." (Colossians 4:1-5, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. 2. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;"

"3. Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:"

"4. That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time." (Colossians 4:1-5, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. The masters! that which is righteous and equal to the servants give ye, having known that ye also have a Master in the heavens. 2. In the prayer continue ye, watching in it in thanksgiving;"

"3. praying at the same time also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the secret of the Christ, because of which also I have been bound,"

"4. that I may manifest it, as it behoveth me to speak; 5. in wisdom walk ye toward those without, the time forestalling;" (Colossians 4:1-5, 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.

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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.