1 Ndimi Paulo ntumwa wa Kirisiti Jesu nge kuda kwe Ndzimu. Ndina Timoti ikamu tjedu.
2 Ku bayengemali, ibo zwikamu zwinogalamoyo muna Kirisiti, zwimu nzi we Kolosi.
Ngoni ne kunyalala kunodwa ku Ndzimu Tate bedu ngazwibe namwi.
Ntembezelo we kuboka
3 Misi yose ha timutembezelela, toboka Ndzimu ibo Tate ba She wedu Jesu Kirisiti, 4 ngobe takahwa ngekwe kugalamoyo kwenyu muna Kirisiti Jesu nenge ludo gwamunago mu bayengemali bose. 5 Oku koikhwa nge kugalabgwe kwamakabigigwa kudzimu. Makahwa kale ngekwe kugalabgwe ikoku mu dama le malebeswa, iyo ndebo mbuya, 6 yakazha mu shango yose, inozwala zwizwalo kakale ikula sekwa yakayita pakati kwenyu kudwila zhuba lamakaihwa mukahwisisa ngoni dze Ndzimu mu malebeswa. 7 Sekwa makahwa na Epafurasi, nlanda naswi unodika, unoshingila Kirisiti nge malebeswa mu bumo gwedu. 8 Wakatibudza ngekwe ludo gwamakapiwa nge Meya.
9 Ngekwa ikoku, kudwa tjose mu zhuba latakahwa nge kwako, atizotongo letja kumutembezelela ne kukumbila Ndzimu kuti umuzhadze nge luzibo gwe kuda kwawo mu butjenjedu gose ne kuhwisisa kunozhisiwa nge Meya yawo, 10 kuti ndizo mutjile butjilo gwakalulwamila She, gunonshathisa nge buzhalo, makadwilila nge mishingo yenyu yakalulwama inozwala zwizwalo nenge sekwa luzibo gwenyu ngekwe Ndzimu gupaphidzika. 11 Dzene mungasimisiwa nge kusima kose kunodwa mu simba lawo gulu. Kuti ndizo mutubule kube ne kusimisila kukulu ne moyonlefu, nekushatha, 12 nekuboka Tate, ibo bakatithama kuti tibe ne fanilo dzekube ne gobe mu thaka ye bayengemali mu bushe gwe tjedza. 13 Wakatidusa mu simba le zhalima ukatiyisa ku bushe gwe Nkololo wawo unodika, 14 iye watinowana kudzutunungwa ne mazwiibhatigo e zwibi.
Kirisiti ne nshingo uwe
15 Kirisiti tjifano tje Ndzimu usingaboneke, ndiye mbano ye lubumbo gose. 16 Zwithu zose zwakabumbigwa munli, zwithu zwi kudzimu ne zwimu shango, zwinoboneka ne zwisingaboneke, zwigalo zwe bushe kene mibuso kene babusi kene balauli. Ndzimu wakathama zwithu zose ndiye uzwithamila iye. 17 Wakabe yapo zwithu zose zwisathu zwikabe yapo, munli tjimwe ne tjimwe tjimu magalo atjo. 18 Ndiye nsholo we mbili, ilo gubungano. Ndiye kutangisa, kakale ndiye we kutanga emusiwa mu bafi, kuti ndizo abe pezhugwi mu tjimwe ne tjimwe. 19 Kwakashathisa Ndzimu kuti mbumbiko yawo yose igale munli. 20 Ndzimu wakagadzanya zwithu zose nawo ndiye, mu shango ne kudzimu, uthama mbakiso nge malopa e tjileyanyo tjitje.
21 Ngono imwi makatongobe makathubukana ne Ndzimu, muli zwita zwawo mu mikumbulo yenyu mushinga zwa zwakabipa, 22 koga ngwenu, nge lufu gwe nkololo wawo Ndzimu wakamugadzanya, kuti ndizo umubone mbeli kwawo makayengemala musina nlandu kakale musinga soleke. 23 Kodwa koga mu kuti modwilila mu kugalamoyo, makagadzikana makasimisila musingatsheduke mu kugalabgwe mu ndebo mbuya yamakahwa yakasumikiligwa itjili tjimwe ne tjimwe tjimu shango, iyo imi Paulo yandakabe nshingi wayo.
Nshingo wa Paulo
24 Ngwenu, ndoshatha mu kuhwisiwa zogwadza kwangu nge kwenyu, ngono mu nyama yangu ndopeleledza tjakasala mu kuhwisiwa zogwadza kwe mbili wa Kirisiti, ilo gubungano. 25 Ndakabe nshingi we gubungano nge nshingo wandakapiwa nge kwenyu, kuti dama le Ndzimu lizibgwe nge buzhalo, 26 lili masazibgwe akasumbikala makole manjinji mu zwizekugwana zwinjinji, koga ngwenu akazibisiwa bayengemali bawo. 27 Kubali Ndzimu wakashalula kuti bazibe kuti bukulu gwe fumwa ye gudzo le masazibgwe iyawa gungapani mu njudzi dzose, masazibgwe iyawa ndikuti Kirisiti unogala mu muli, iye kugalabgwe kwe gudzo. 28 Ndizo Kirisiti ndiye watinosumikila, titjemela kakale tidiya mmwe ne mmwe butjenjedu gose, kuti ndizo tizhise mmwe ne mmwe akapelela muna Kirisiti. 29 Kuti ikoku kutubuke, ndoshinga ndigwisa nge simba la Kirisiti linondisimisa lishinga lili mundili.
1 From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy—
2 To God's people in Colossae, who are our faithful friends in union with Christ:
May God our Father give you grace and peace.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
3 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God's people. 5 When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. 6 The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is. 7 You learned of God's grace from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is Christ's faithful worker on our behalf. 8 He has told us of the love that the Spirit has given you.
9 For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives. 10 Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God. 11-12 May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light. 13 He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son, 14 by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.
The Person and Work of Christ
15 Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. 16 For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. 17 Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. 18 He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. 19 For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. 20 Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.
21 At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. 22 But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. 23 You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant—this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.
Paul's Work as a Servant of the Church
24 And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church. 25 And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, 26 which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people. 27 God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me.