Colossians 1:15–23

¹⁵who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all^* creation, ¹⁶because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, ¹⁷and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, ¹⁸and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, ¹⁹because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by^* making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹And although you were formerly alienated^d* and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds, ²²but now you have been reconciled^e by his physical body^f through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.