COL 1:21 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Once all of you were alienated from God—your thinking was that of an enemy and your actions were evil,

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

UST Before you believed in the Messiah, you did not want to be close to God, and you were hostile to him because everything you thought and did was evil.

AICNT And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

OEB And it pleased God that you, once estranged from him and hostile towards him in your thoughts, intent only on wickedness –

WEBBE You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

WMBB (Same as above)

NET And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,

LSV And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled,

FBV You once were alienated from God, enemies in the way you thought and the way you acted,

TCNT At one time you were alienated from God and hostile in your minds because of your evil works. But now [fn]God has reconciled you to himself

1:21 God has reconciled you ¦ you have been reconciled SBL

T4T As for you, although formerly God considered you his enemies (OR, God considered you as alienated from him) and although you were formerly hostile to God because you thought evil thoughts and because you did evil deeds,

LEB And _⌊although you were formerly alienated_⌋[fn][fn] and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds,

1:21 Literally “and you formerly being alienated”

1:21 *Here the participle (“being”) is understood as concessive

BBE And you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through evil works, he has now made one

Moff Once you were estranged yourselves, your hearts hostile to him in evildoing; but now he has reconciled you by dying in his mortal body,

Wymth And you, estranged as you once were and even hostile in your minds, amidst your evil deeds,

ASV And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,

DRA And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works:

YLT And you — once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now did he reconcile,

Drby And you, who once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now has it reconciled

RV And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled
(And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath/has he reconciled )

SLT And you, once being alienated and enemies in mind by evil works, and now has he reconciled.

Wbstr And you, that were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled,

KJB-1769 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
(And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath/has he reconciled )

KJB-1611 And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies [fn]in your minde by wicked workes, yet now hath hee reconciled,
(And you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath/has he reconciled,)

1:21 Or, by your mind in wicked works.

Bshps And you which were sometyme straungers, and enemies, by cogitation in euyll workes, hath he nowe yet reconciled,
(And you which were sometyme strangers, and enemies, by cogitation in evil works, hath/has he now yet reconciled,)

Gnva And you which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your mindes were set in euill workes, hath he nowe also reconciled,
(And you which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your minds were set in evil works, hath/has he now also reconciled, )

Cvdl And you (which were in tymes past straungers and enemies, because youre myndes were set in euell workes) hath he now reconcyled
(And you (which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your(pl) minds were set in evil works) hath/has he now reconciled)

TNT And you (which were in tymes past straungers and enymes because youre myndes were set in evyll workes) hath he now reconcilied
(And you (which were in times past strangers and enymes because your(pl) minds were set in evil works) hath/has he now reconcilied )

Wycl And whanne ye weren sumtyme aliened, and enemyes bi wit in yuele werkis,
(And when ye/you_all were sometime aliened, and enemies by wit in evil works,)

Luth Und euch, die ihr weiland Fremde und Feinde waret durch die Vernunft in bösen Werken,
(And you, the you(pl)/their/her once/formerly strangers and enemies wait through the reason in evil works,)

ClVg Et vos cum essetis aliquando alienati, et inimici sensu in operibus malis:[fn]
(And you(pl) when/with wasis sometimes foreignti, and enemies sense in/into/on works bad_things: )

1.21 Alienati et inimici consilio ejus, quod idem valet, quia non receperunt quæ per Moysen mandavit Deus utpote devoti idolis suis.

1.21 Alienati and enemies by_design/by_the_advice his, that the_same valet, because not/no they_received which through Moysen commanded God utpote devoti idols to_his_own.

UGNT καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους, καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,
(kai humas pote ontas apaʸllotriōmenous, kai eⱪthrous taʸ dianoia en tois ergois tois ponaʸrois,)

SBL-GNT καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς—
(kai humas pote ontas apaʸllotriōmenous kai eⱪthrous taʸ dianoia en tois ergois tois ponaʸrois—)

RP-GNT Καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτὲ ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς, νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατήλλαξεν
(Kai humas pote ontas apaʸllotriōmenous kai eⱪthrous taʸ dianoia en tois ergois tois ponaʸrois, nuni de apokataʸllaxen)

TC-GNT Καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς, νυνὶ δὲ [fn]ἀποκατήλλαξεν
(Kai humas pote ontas apaʸllotriōmenous kai eⱪthrous taʸ dianoia en tois ergois tois ponaʸrois, nuni de apokataʸllaxen )

1:21 αποκατηλλαξεν ¦ αποκατηλλαγητε SBL

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:13–23: Jesus Christ is greater than everything

In this section, Paul stated these things: Jesus is equal to God in every way. He has always been with God and he (with God) created the world. God has freed Christians from the power of Satan and has placed them under the rule of his Son, Christ Jesus. God has accepted those who believe in Jesus as his own people. This was possible because Jesus died on the cross instead of them.

Paragraph 1:21–23

Theme: Although the Colossians had previously been God’s enemies, he had now made them his own people.

1:21–23 is one sentence in Greek. You will probably need to divide it into several sentences in your translation. The main verb of this sentence is “he has reconciled you” (1:22). In the previous paragraph Paul said that God’s plan was to reconcile all things to himself (1:20). In this paragraph Paul applied this directly to the Colossians.

1:21a

Once you were alienated from God

¶ As for you believers in Colossae, in the past before you trusted in Christ you were separated from God,

Once: The Greek word that the BSB translates Once means “formerly, in the past.” Paul was writing about what the Colossian Christians were like before they believed in Christ.

you: The word you is emphasized in the Greek text. In English this can be expressed, “But as for you…,” or, “And you yourselves…” Paul used this emphasis to change the focus of the letter at this point. In 1:15–20 he had written about the greatness of Christ, here he began to write about the Colossian Christians’ relationship to God.

alienated from God: The Greek text does not contain the words from God (see RSV and NET). However, almost all commentators agree that the text here implies the words from God. Therefore the BSB and many other English versions include these words. Paul was saying that the Colossians were separated from God. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

far away from God (GNT)

Paul did not mean that the Colossians were physically far away from God. He meant that they did not have a relationship with him because their sinful deeds separated them from him. Other ways to translate this might be:

you were like strangers to God

you had turned your backs on God

1:21b

and were hostile in your minds,

and you were hostile to God in all your thoughts,
and the way you thought was against God,

hostile in your minds: This phrase continues to describe what the Colossians were like before they became Christians: they were hostile toward God. Possible ways to say this are:

you were hostile toward God

you were against God

in your minds: This explains the specific way the Colossians had been God’s enemies—they were hostile to God in the way they thought and felt. Here is another way to translate this:

Your thoughts made you his enemies (CEV)

1:21c

engaging in evil deeds.

because you acted in an evil manner.
because you continually did evil things.

engaging in evil deeds: It wasn’t just the way they thought that caused the Colossians to be God’s enemies—it was also the evil way they acted.

General Comment for 1:21b–c

Some English versions combine 1:21b–c and these two ideas. For example:

and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought (GNT)

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-sequential

ποτε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ποτέ ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καί ἐχθρούς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς)

The phrase At one time does not refer to one specific instance in time when the Colossians were alienated from God. Instead, it refers to all the time before they believed in Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could clarify what time Paul is referring to. Alternate translation: [During the time before you believed]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους

being ˓having_been˒_estranged

If your language does not use this passive form, you could describe the Colossians’ state with an active form. Alternate translation: [did not want a relationship with God] or [were people who did not want to be near God]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀπηλλοτριωμένους, καὶ ἐχθροὺς

˓having_been˒_estranged (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ποτέ ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καί ἐχθρούς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς)

Paul assumes that the Colossians will know from whom they were alienated and with whom they were enemies: God. If your language would include this implied information, you could include a reference to “God” in this sentence. Alternate translation: [alienated from God and were his enemies]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,

¬the ˱in˲_mind in your works ¬the evil