Colossians 2

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. 2:2 My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable. 2:5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Warnings Against the Adoption of False Philosophies
2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 2:7 rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 2:17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! 2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. 2:19 He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? 2:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 2:22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. 2:23 Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body – a wisdom with no true value – they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

Job 5

5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?

5:2 For wrath kills the foolish person,
and anger slays the silly one.

5:3 I myself have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.

5:4 His children are far from safety,
and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered,
nor is there anyone to deliver them.

5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest,
and take it even from behind the thorns,
and the thirsty swallow up their fortune.

5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust,
nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

5:7 but people are born to trouble,
as surely as the sparks fly upward.
Blessings for the One Who Seeks God

5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would set forth my case.

5:9 He does great and unsearchable things,
marvelous things without number;

5:10 he gives rain on the earth,
and sends water on the fields;

5:11 he sets the lowly on high,
that those who mourn are raised to safety.

5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty
so that their hands cannot accomplish
what they had planned!

5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.

5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope about in the noontime as if it were night.

5:15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth,
even the poor from the hand of the powerful.

5:16 Thus the poor have hope,
and iniquity shuts its mouth.

5:17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects,
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

5:18 For he wounds, but he also bandages;
he strikes, but his hands also heal.

5:19 He will deliver you from six calamities;
yes, in seven no evil will touch you.

5:20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death,
and in time of war from the power of the sword.

5:21 You will be protected from malicious gossip,
and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.

5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine
and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.

5:24 And you will know that your home
will be secure,
and when you inspect your domains,
you will not be missing anything.

5:25 You will also know that your children will be numerous,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.

5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age,
As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.

5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.
Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

Scripture quoted from The NET Bible®, New English Translation, Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C., reprinted with permission from Bible.org. For further study, see articles on Bible.org and the NETBible study environment at NETBible.org.

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