1 And now I am talking to you bosses that own your workers, like they are your prisoners. You have to give your workers a fair go. You have to look after them properly and give them what is right for them. Remember, you have a boss too. He is God, in heaven.* Ephesians 6:9

2 Now I’m talking to all of you. Keep on praying to God, and keep on asking him to help you. Keep your minds properly awake while you pray. Don’t give up easily. And also thank God for the good things he does for you. 3 And pray for us too. Ask God to make a way for us to tell more people about Jesus Christ. We want to clearly tell them the message about God’s plan to use Jesus to save them. You know, I told that message to some people, and they didn’t like it, so they put me in jail. 4 But I still have to tell more people about Jesus. So I want you to ask God to help me make this message clear to them.

5 And you too, whenever you are with people that don’t believe in Jesus, if you can tell them about him, you have to do it. Be sensible in how you live with those people.* Ephesians 5:16 6 And talk to them in a good way, to get them interested in your message. And be ready to answer their questions.

7-8 All right, I’m not going to write much more in this letter. I will give it to Tikicus to take to you. He is a Christian friend that we love. He works for our leader, Jesus, just like I do, and he always works really well. When he gets to you mob there, he will tell you all the news about us. And he will help you to feel brave, and to trust Jesus more.* Acts 20:4; Ephesians 6:21-22; 2 Timothy 4:12 9 And I’m sending Onesimus with him. You know Onesimus. He is one of your mob, and he is another strong Christian friend that we love. Those 2 men will tell you all about everything that is going on here.* Philemon 1:10-12

10 Do you remember Aristarkus? He is here with me in jail. He says hello to you. And Mark too, he says hello to you. He is a cousin of Barnabas. And like I told you before, if he comes to visit you, tell him, “Good to see you, Mark.”* Acts 12:12, 25; 13:13; 15:37-39; 19:29; 27:2; Philemon 1:24 11 And there is another man here that says hello to you. His name is Jesus, but we call him Justus. He says hello to you too. Those men are the only Jews that are working with me here. They are helping me get more people to come into God’s family, and they make this job much more easy for me.

12 And Epafras is another one of your mob that is here with me. He says hello to you too. He works for Jesus too, and he is always praying strongly for you. He prays that you will keep on trusting God, and that you will properly know everything that God wants you to do.* Colossians 1:7; Philemon 1:23 13 I can tell you truly that he works very hard for you, and for the Christians that live in the towns called Laodicea and Hirapolis.

14 Our good friend Luke, the doctor, says hello to you too, and so does Demas.* 2 Timothy 4:10-11; Philemon 1:24

15 And I want you to say hello from me to all the Christians at Laodicea. And say hello from me to Nimfa, and to the Christians that meet in her house.

16 After you mob at Colossae read this letter, send it to the church people at Laodicea, so that they can read it too. And I sent another letter to that Laodicea mob a little while ago, so after they have read it, make sure you get it from them and read it too.

17 Now here is a special message from me to Arkipus. Tell him, “Our leader, Jesus, gave you a job, so keep on doing it, until you finish it properly.”* Philemon 1:2

18  This is me, Paul, writing these words now with my own hand. I got somebody else to write all the words up to here, but I want you to be sure that this letter is really from me, so from here on it is me writing it. I’m saying hello to you mob there at Colossae.

Remember that I am in jail here, and pray for me.

I’m asking God to be very good to you.

From Paul