1 A ta mâtikō ǃgomma ta ge sadu tsî ǁnān Laodiseas ǃnâ hân hîa tita ǂan taman ǃaroma tsâ ǃkhaisa mîba du re. 2 ǁÎn nî ǂgaogu ân ǃnâ ǂgaoǂgaoǃnâhe tsî ǀnammi ǃnâ ǀhaoǀhaohese. Elob di ǂganǃgâsasib, Xristuba* ǀoasase ǂans di ǃkhūsib tsîna xu ra ǀkhâuǂoaxa ǁnâuǃāban nî hōse. 3 ǁÎb ǃnâb hoaraga ǁuib gā-aisib tsî ǂans diba a sâusaba.
4 Nēsa ta ge khoe-i xare-i sado ǂgaeǂhapu ra ǃhoaxūn ǀkha gowadan tidese ra mîba du. 5 Sorosise ta ga ǀkhai xawe ta gagas ǃnâ sadu ǀkha hâ, ǃgâiaǂgao rase sadu ǃgâi ǀgaub ǃnâ tsî du ǁaposase ǂgoms Xristub ǃnâ du ūhâs ǃnâ hâ ǃkhais xa.
Xristub ǃnâ hâ ǀasa ûib
6 Xristub Jesuba du go ǃKhūb ase ǃkhōǃoa xuige ǁîb ǃnâ ûi re. 7 ǁÎb ǃnâ ǃnomaǃkhō, î sadu ûiga ǁîb ai ǂnubikhâi tsî sadu ǁkhāǁkhās ǃoa ǂgoms ǃnâ ǃgaoǃgaohe, ǃnāǂamsa ganganxasib ǀkha.
8 ǃÛisen, î-i khoe-i xare-e tā xū tama gāxaǃnân tsî khoesi gā-ai ǃhoaxūn, khoen xa ra māhe ǁnaetigu tsî nē ǃhūbaisi gagan, Xristuba xu hâ taman ǀkha khobodī du. 9 Xristub ǃnâb hoaraga elosiba, sorosise ǁan hâ amaga, 10 tsî du ge Xristub, ǁîb a mâ gagasi danaǂgaeǂgui-ao-i tamas ka io ǀgai-i hoa-i ǂamai ǀgapib ǃnâ a dīǀoaǀoasa.
11 Xristub ǃnâ hâ ǀguiǃnâxasib ǃnâ du ge a ǃgaosa,* ǁnā ǃgaos hîa khoe-i xa ra dīhes ǀkhas ose, xawe Xristub xa dīhe hâs, khoe-e ǁî-i di sorosi turaga xu ra ǃnoraǃnorasa. 12 ǁĀǁnâhe du ge, o du ge Xristub ǀkha ge ǁkhōhe, tsî ǁāǁnâs ǃnâ du ge sadu ǂgoms, Elob di ǀgaib, Xristuba ǁōba xu ge ǂkhaiǂkhaib ǃnâ du ūhâs ǃnâ-u Xristub ǀkha ǂkhaiǂkhaihe hâ. 13 Sadu ge ǀnî ǁae-i ǃnâ gagasise sadu di ǁoren xa ǃaromahe hâse tsî ǁkhāti ǂHanuba ūhâ tama Jodeǁî tama du a ǃkhais ǃaroma ge ǁō hâ i. Xaweb ge Eloba sada hoada di ǁorena ǀûba tsî sado Xristub ǀkha ûib ǃoa ge hā-ū. 14 ǁÎb ge sada ǃoagu a xoaǁguisa tsūdīga ǀari tsî ǁîna Jesub di ǃgâuhaib* ai ǃgâuhes ǀkha ge ūbē. 15 Danaǂgaeǂgui-aogu tsî ǁkhāsigu tsîna ǀgaiba ūxūs ǀkhab ge ǁîba, ǁîga ǂhaisase ǃhō tsî ǁnās ǀkha ǁîga ge dan.
16 ǁNā-amaga, tā i khoe-i xare-e ǀgoraǃgâ du, ǂû tsî du ra ān tamas ka io ǁîn di ǃanu tsēdi di ǁâudīb tamas ka io ǀAsa ǁkhâb ǁâudīb tsî Sabbattsēdīn ǃnâ du ǁhao tama ǃkhais ǃaroma. 17 Nēn hoan ge a ǃgoaxaǁaeb di som, xawe amab ge Xristub ǃnâ hâ. 18 Tā i khoe-i hîa ǂhumi ǃgamǃgamsens tsî ǀhomǃgāna ǀgoreǀîs ǃnâ ra ǃgâiǃgâisen-e, nē amǃnâsa du nî hō ǃkhaisa ǀhana du. ǁNāti ī khoe-i ge ǁause ra khūkhūsen ǁî-i di khoesi ǂâiǀgauba xu. 19 ǁÎn ge Xristub hîa a Danab ai ǃkhōǀgaipe tama hâ, ǁîba xus ge hoaraga sorosa ǁîs di uniǁaen tsî ǁapan ǀkha ǃkhōǁarehe hâ tsî Elob ra ǀomkhâi kai khami ra ǀomkhâi.
Xristub ǀkha ǁōs tsî ûis
20 Sadu kom Xristub ǀkha ge ǁō-o tsî ǁnās ǀkhan kom ǁîb di ǃhūbaisi gagana ǃhūbaib din ǃoagu ǁō hâo. Tare-i ǃaroma du noxopa nē ǃhūbaib ǃnâ hâ khami ra ûi tsî ǁîb di ǂhanugu 21 “Tā nē-e tsâǀkhā! Tā ǁnā-e tsâtsâ! Tā nau-e sîsenū!” ti ra mîgu ǃnâ ra māǁnâsen? 22 Nē xūn hoan kom sîsenūhen ka, o ra kāo, khoesi mîmādi tsî ǁkhāǁkhādi ain a ǃgaoǃgaosa xui-ao. 23 Nēti ī ǂhanuǃnôagu ge gā-aisib di īsigu aitsama ǁgariǁnâhe hâ ǃoabas tsî ǃgamǃgamsens diga ūhâ tsî ǁkhōǁkhōsa sîsenūs soros disa, xawen ge a harebeoǃnâ tsî sorosi turaga a ǁkhae-ai ǁoa.
1 Let me tell you how hard I have worked for you and for the people in Laodicea and for all others who do not know me personally. 2 I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself. 3 He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.
4 I tell you, then, do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments, no matter how good they seem to be. 5 For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I am glad as I see the resolute firmness with which you stand together in your faith in Christ.
Fullness of Life in Christ
6 Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him. 7 Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.
8 See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. 9 For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, 10 and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.
11 In union with Christ you were circumcised, not with the circumcision that is made by human beings, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self. 12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. 15 And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.
16 So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath. 17 All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ. 18 Do not allow yourselves to be condemned by anyone who claims to be superior because of special visions and who insists on false humility and the worship of angels. For no reason at all, such people are all puffed up by their human way of thinking 19 and have stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body. Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.
Dying and Living with Christ
20 You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as 21 “Don't handle this,” “Don't taste that,” “Don't touch the other”? 22 All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings. 23 Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.
