Colossians Chapter 3 verse 16 Holy Bible

ASV Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms `and' hymns `and' spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.
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BBE Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ be in you in all wealth of wisdom; teaching and helping one another with songs of praise and holy words, making melody to God with grace in your hearts.
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DARBY Colossians 3:16

Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.
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KJV Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
read chapter 3 in KJV

WBT Colossians 3:16


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WEB Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
read chapter 3 in WEB

YLT Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing each other, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, in grace singing in your hearts to the Lord;
read chapter 3 in YLT

Colossians 3 : 16 Bible Verse Songs

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom (Colossians 1:5, 9, 27, 28; Colossians 2:2, 3; Colossians 4:5, 6; Ephesians 1:17, 18; Ephesians 3:8, 9; 1 Corinthians 1:5, 6; 2 Timothy 3:15). The "word of Christ" is the Christian doctrine, the gospel in the widest sense of the term (Colossians 1:5), as proceeding from Christ (Galatians 1:11, 12; Hebrews 2:3; Matthew 28:20; 2 Corinthians 13:3). This precise phrase occurs only here, where the name of Christ is emphasized in so many ways (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Thessalonians 3:1). The apostle, it may be, alludes primarily to the personal teaching of Christ himself (comp. Acts 20:35; 1 Corinthians 7:10). "You" is understood collectively by Meyer and others ("amongst you"); but the verb "dwell in" (Romans 8:11; 2 Timothy 1:5, 14) requires the stronger sense, suggested also by the "in your hearts" of ver. 15 (comp. note on "in you," Colossians 1:27). As "the word" is rich in the Divine wealth stored in it (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 1:7, 18; Ephesians 2:4, 7; Ephesians 3:8; Titus 3:6), so it is to dwell "richly" in those who possess it. "In all wisdom" God's grace abounded (Ephesians 1:8), and St. Paul himself taught (Colossians 1:28); so with the richly indwelling word in the minds of the Colossians, especially as they were beset by intellectual forms of error (Colossians 1:9; Colossians 2:2-4, 8, 23: comp. Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:15). In this connection of thought, the phrase appears to belong to the previous sentence; so English Version and Lightfoot. Bengel, Meyer, Alford, and Ellicott, however, attach it to the words which follow. Teaching and admonishing each other [or, yourselves: comp. ver. 13, note] (Colossians 1:28; Romans 15:14; Hebrews 5:12; Hebrews 10:24, 25; Ephesians 4:15, 16). (For this absolute participial nominative, so marked a feature of St. Paul's style, comp. Colossians 1:10; Colossians 2:2; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 4:2; Philippians 1:30; Philippians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 7:5; Winer, p. 716.) What he is doing in his own ministry and by writing this letter, he bids the Colossians do for each other. "Teaching" precedes, being suggested by "wisdom." With psalms, hymns, spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26). These are to be a chief means of mutual edification. The repeated "and," also the singular "heart," and "Lord" in place of "God" in the sequel of the verse, are borrowed by the Received Text from Ephesians 5:19. The Greeks, the Asiatic Greeks in particular, were devoted to the arts of music. Song and jest, stimulated by the wine cup, were the entertainment of their social hours (Ephesians 5:4, 18, 19). Their Christian intercourse is still to be enlivened by the varied use of song, and by the play of wholesome wit (Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29); but both song and speech are to be "in grace," stamped with a spiritual character and governed by a serious Christian purpose. A "psalm" (from ψάλλω, to play an instrument) is "a song set to music;" but this name was already in the LXX appropriated to its present use. Whether its application here is restricted to the psalms of the Old Testament is doubtful (comp. 1 Corinthians 14:15, 26). "Hymn" (ὕμνος) denotes a solemn, religions composition, or song of Divine praise. The word "song" (ode, ᾠδή) is wider in sense; hence is qualified by "spiritual," equivalent to "with [or, 'in'] the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18) - "songs of a spiritual nature, inspired by the Holy Ghost" (comp. "spiritual wisdom," Colossians 1:9). Such songs would echo the varied sentiments and experiences of the Christian life. In Ephesians 5:14 and 2 Timothy 2:11-13, very possibly, we have fragments of early Christian song. St. Paul's own language, in more exalted moods, tends to assume a rhythmic and lyrical strain (see introductory note on Colossians 1:15-20). In grace singing, in your hearts, to God (Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 15, 28; Romans 8:27; 1 John 3:19; Revelation 2:23; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9). "The correct reading is ἐν τῇ χάριτι (in the grace);" so Lightfoot, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Herr in margin, rejected by the Revisers. The tendency to omit the article in prepositional phrases should be taken into account in its favour here. And the article helps the sense by giving "grace" a definite Christian meaning (so "the love," ver. 14). Otherwise, ἐν χάριτι may mean no more than "gracefully," "pleasantly;" comp. Colossians 4:6. "The (Divine) grace" is the pervasive element and subject matter of Christian song. Its constant refrain will be, "to the praise of the glory of his grace!" (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14: comp. Romans 1:5, 6). "In your hearts" (ver. 15) - the inner region of the soul - there is the counterpart, audible "to God," of the song that vibrates on the lips. In Ephesians 5:19 we read, "with your hearts" - the instrument (here the region) of the song. (For the connection of "in your hearts" and "to God," comp. vers. 22, 23; Luke 16:15; Acts 1:24; Acts 15:8; Romans 8:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 John 3:19.)

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) The word of Christ.--Here again the definite phrase, "the word of Christ," takes the place of the commoner phrase, "the word of the Lord," "the word of God." It is to "dwell in their hearts." Hence it is the engrafted word" (James 1:21)--the truth of Christ conceived in the heart, striking root into it, and making it its dwelling-place. It will be observed how all such phrases prepare for the full conception of Him as Himself "the Word of God."In all wisdom.--The symmetry of the original, "in all wisdom teaching . . . in grace singing," suggests the connection of the words with those following, not, as in our version, with those going before. The indwelling Word of God is described as manifesting itself, first, in the wisdom of mutual teaching, next, in the grace of hearty thanksgiving.Teaching and admonishing . . .--Here again we have at once general identity and special distinction between this and the parallel passage in Ephesians 5:19-20. There, as here, we have the "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," "the singing in the hearts to the Lord," and the spirit of "thankfulness." But there the whole is described as a consequence of "being filled with the Spirit," and, as an outburst of that spiritual enthusiasm, of which the spurious excitement of drunkenness is the morbid caricature. Here the thought starts from "the word of Christ in the soul," realised through the gift of the Spirit by all our faculties; and it divides itself accordingly into the function of teaching, which bears on the mind; "the singing in grace" of thankfulness, which comes from and goes to the heart; and the "doing all in the name of Christ," which belongs to the outer sphere of action.Psalms and hymns.--The ascription to those of an office of "teaching and admonition" describes what is their real, though indirect, effect. In the Church, as in the world, he who "makes a people's songs" really guides their minds as well as their hearts. For good and for evil the hymns of the Christian Church have largely influenced her theology.