1 J e veux, en effet, que vous sachiez combien est grand le combat que je soutiens pour vous, et pour ceux qui sont à Laodicée, et pour tous ceux qui n'ont pas vu mon visage en la chair,

For I want you to know how great is my solicitude for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who '> like yourselves] have never seen my face and known me personally.

2 a fin qu'ils aient le coeur rempli de consolation, qu'ils soient unis dans la charité, et enrichis d'une pleine intelligence pour connaître le mystère de Dieu, savoir Christ,

that their hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, Christ (the Anointed One).

3 m ystère dans lequel sont cachés tous les trésors de la sagesse et de la science.

In Him all the treasures of wisdom ( comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden.

4 J e dis cela afin que personne ne vous trompe par des discours séduisants.

I say this in order that no one may mislead and delude you by plausible and persuasive and attractive arguments and beguiling speech.

5 C ar, si je suis absent de corps, je suis avec vous en esprit, voyant avec joie le bon ordre qui règne parmi vous, et la fermeté de votre foi en Christ.

For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your orderly array and the firmness and the solid front and steadfastness of your faith in Christ '> leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].

6 A insi donc, comme vous avez reçu le Seigneur Jésus Christ, marchez en lui,

As you have therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.

7 é tant enracinés et fondés en lui, et affermis par la foi, d'après les instructions qui vous ont été données, et abondez en actions de grâces.

Have the roots firmly and deeply planted, being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.

8 P renez garde que personne ne fasse de vous sa proie par la philosophie et par une vaine tromperie, s'appuyant sur la tradition des hommes, sur les rudiments du monde, et non sur Christ.

See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding Christ (the Messiah).

9 C ar en lui habite corporellement toute la plénitude de la divinité.

For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form.

10 V ous avez tout pleinement en lui, qui est le chef de toute domination et de toute autorité.

And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life. And He is the Head of all rule and authority.

11 E t c'est en lui que vous avez été circoncis d'une circoncision que la main n'a pas faite, mais de la circoncision de Christ, qui consiste dans le dépouillement du corps de la chair:

In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a circumcision Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).

12 a yant été ensevelis avec lui par le baptême, vous êtes aussi ressuscités en lui et avec lui, par la foi en la puissance de Dieu, qui l'a ressuscité des morts.

'> you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him '> to a new life] through faith in the working of God '> as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.

13 V ous qui étiez morts par vos offenses et par l'incirconcision de votre chair, il vous a rendus à la vie avec lui, en nous faisant grâce pour toutes nos offenses;

And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), brought to life together with, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14 i l a effacé l'acte dont les ordonnances nous condamnaient et qui subsistait contre nous, et il l'a détruit en le clouant à la croix;

Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to cross.

15 i l a dépouillé les dominations et les autorités, et les a livrées publiquement en spectacle, en triomphant d'elles par la croix.

disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it.

16 Q ue personne donc ne vous juge au sujet du manger ou du boire, ou au sujet d'une fête, d'une nouvelle lune, ou des sabbats:

Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath.

17 c 'était l'ombre des choses à venir, mais le corps est en Christ.

Such are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.

18 Q u'aucun homme, sous une apparence d'humilité et par un culte des anges, ne vous ravisse à son gré le prix de la course, tandis qu'il s'abandonne à ses visions et qu'il est enflé d'un vain orgueil par ses pensées charnelles,

Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit,

19 s ans s'attacher au chef, dont tout le corps, assisté et solidement assemblé par des jointures et des liens, tire l'accroissement que Dieu donne.

And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 S i vous êtes morts avec Christ aux rudiments du monde, pourquoi, comme si vous viviez dans le monde, vous impose-t-on ces préceptes:

If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things and have escaped from the world’s crude and elemental notions and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the world?

21 N e prends pas! ne goûte pas! ne touche pas!

Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not even touch,

22 p réceptes qui tous deviennent pernicieux par l'abus, et qui ne sont fondés que sur les ordonnances et les doctrines des hommes?

Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow human precepts and doctrines.

23 I ls ont, à la vérité, une apparence de sagesse, en ce qu'ils indiquent un culte volontaire, de l'humilité, et le mépris du corps, mais ils sont sans aucun mérite et contribuent à la satisfaction de la chair.

Such have indeed the outward appearance for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature).