Colossians 1:3

Easy-to-Read Version

In our prayers we always thank God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

King James Version (1611)
We giue thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, praying alwayes for you,

King James Version
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

English Standard Version
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

New American Standard Bible
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

New Century Version
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Legacy Standard Bible
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Berean Standard Bible
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Contemporary English Version
Each time we pray for you, we thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Complete Jewish Bible
Whenever we pray, we always give thanks for you to God, the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Darby Translation
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ continually [when] praying for you,

Geneva Bible (1587)
We giue thankes to God euen ye Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, alway praying for you:

George Lamsa Translation
Always we give thanks to God, the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, and always we pray for you,

Good News Translation
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

Lexham English Bible
We give thanks always to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you,

Literal Translation
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying continually about you,

Amplified Bible
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you,

American Standard Version
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Bible in Basic English
We give praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, making prayer for you at all times,

Hebrew Names Version
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, praying always for you,

International Standard Version
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 1:16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
We give thanks to Aloha the Father of our Lord Jeshu Meshiha in all time, and pray on your behalf,

Murdock Translation
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, at all times, and pray for you;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
We geue thankes to God and father of our Lorde Iesus Christe, alwayes for you, praying:

English Revised Version
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

World English Bible
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (praying always for you,

Weymouth's New Testament
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
grace and pees to you of God oure fadir and of the Lord Jhesu Crist. We don thankyngis to God, and to the fader of oure Lord Jhesu Crist, euermore preiynge for you, herynge youre feith in Crist Jhesu,

Update Bible Version
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Webster's Bible Translation
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

New English Translation
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

New King James Version
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

New Living Translation
We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

New Life Bible
We always pray and give thanks to God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

New Revised Standard
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
We are giving thanks unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always, for you, offering prayer, -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

Revised Standard Version
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
We geve thankes to God the father of oure Lorde Iesus Christ alwayes prayenge for you

Young's Literal Translation
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
We geue thankes vnto God and the father of oure LORDE Iesus Christ, prayenge allwayes for you

Mace New Testament (1729)
In our prayers we continually give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ upon your account,

THE MESSAGE
Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. It's as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He's the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit. Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message. I want you to know how glad I am that it's me sitting here in this jail and not you. There's a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church's part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth. This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Y'all are always in our thoughts and prayers. Y'all give us reason upon reason to be thankful.

Contextual Overview

³ In our prayers we always thank God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ We thank him because we have heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of God's people. ⁵ Your faith and love continue because you know what is waiting for you in heaven—the hope you have had since you first heard the true message, the Good News ⁶ that was told to you. Throughout the world, this Good News is bringing blessings and is spreading. And that's what has been happening among you since the first time you heard it and understood the truth about God's grace. ⁷ You heard it from Epaphras, our dear friend and co-worker. He is a faithful servant of Christ for us. ⁸ He also told us about the love you have from the Spirit.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

give: Romans 1:8, Romans 1:9, 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:15, Philippians 1:3-5, Philippians 4:6, 1 Thessalonians 1:2

praying: Colossians 1:9, Colossians 1:13, Ephesians 3:14-19, Philippians 1:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 3:10-13, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:17, 2 Timothy 1:3

Reciprocal: Psalms 72:17 - his name Romans 6:17 - But Romans 16:19 - I am 2 Corinthians 11:31 - God Galatians 1:24 - General Ephesians 1:16 - Cease Philemon 1:4 - General

Cross-References

Job 36:30
Look, he spreads lightning all over the sky and covers the deepest part of the ocean.

Job 38:19
"Where does light come from? Where does darkness come from?

Psalms 33:6
The Lord spoke the command, and the world was made. The breath from his mouth created everything in the heavens.

Psalms 33:9
because when he speaks, things happen. And if he says, "Stop!"—then it stops.

Psalms 97:11
Light and happiness shine on those who want to do right.

Psalms 104:2
You wear light like a robe. You spread out the skies like a curtain.

Psalms 118:27
The Lord is God, and he accepts us. Tie up the lamb for the sacrifice and carry it to the horns of the altar."

Psalms 148:5
Let them praise the Lord 's name, because he gave the command and created them all!

Isaiah 45:7
I made the light and the darkness. I bring peace, and I cause trouble. I, the Lord , do all these things.

Isaiah 60:19
"The sun will no longer be your light during the day. The light from the moon will no longer be your light at night. The Lord will be your light forever. Your God will be your glory.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

We give thanks to God,.... Meaning himself and Timothy. This is the beginning of the epistle, which is introduced with a thanksgiving to God; to whom praise and thankfulness are always due as a Creator and preserver, as the author of all good things, as the Father of mercies, temporal and spiritual, and as the covenant God and Father of his people through Christ: wherefore it follows,

and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the sense of which either is, that God the Father, who is the object of praise and thanksgiving, is both the God of Christ, and the Father of Christ, the God of Christ, as Christ is man, and the Father of Christ, as Christ is God; or the latter is exegetical of the former, and may be rendered thus, "God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ": and very properly are thanks given to him under this character, because it is as he is the Father of Christ that he blesses his people with all spiritual blessings; and because he is their God, as well as his God; and their Father, as well as his Father, though in a different sense, his by nature, theirs by adoption. Moreover, as all their blessings come from God, as the Father of Christ, and through Christ, and for his sake, so it is very proper that thanks should be returned unto him under that character; and through Christ, by whom alone such sacrifices of praise are acceptable to God: it is added,

praying always for you; which, as it is expressive of the constant discharge of the duty of prayer, and the continual remembrance of these saints in it, and shows the affection the apostle had for them; so it points out the time when, and the way and manner in which Paul and Timothy gave thanks to God on account of them; it was when they were at the throne of grace, and in their frequent prayers to God; thankfulness for mercies received, both by ourselves and others, being a branch of the duty of prayer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We give thanks to God - See the notes at the parallel place in Ephesians 1:15-16.

Praying always for you - See the Romans 1:9, note; Ephesians 1:16, note; compare 1 Thessalonians 1:2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Colossians 1:3. We give thanks to God — Who is the author of all good; and from whom the grace, which has produced your conversion, has sprung by his mission of Christ Jesus. See the note on Ephesians 1:15; Ephesians 1:16.