I'm in a home group Bible Study that's working through Colossians. Our passage this week is Col 1.15-20. I translated this morning and wanted to share it as it is a powerful statement of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text

ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου,
He is the image of the invisible God,
   πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως,
   firstborn of all creation,
   ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα
   for by him all things were created,
      ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς
      in the heavens
         καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς,
         and in the earth,
      τὰ ὁρατὰ
      the visible
         καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα,
         and the invisible,
      εἴτε θρόνοι
      whether thrones
      εἴτε κυριότητες
      or dominions
      εἴτε ἀρχαὶ
      or rulers
      εἴτε ἐξουσίαι·
      or authorities:
         τὰ πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται·
         through him and for him all things were created;
            καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων
            and he is before all things
            καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν,
            and all things hold together in him,
            καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἐκκλησίας·
            and he is the head of the body, the church.

ὅς ἐστιν ἀρχή,
He is the beginning,
   πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν,
   firstborn from the dead,
      ἵνα γένηται ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς πρωτεύων,
      so that in all things he might be preeminent;
   ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι
   for in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell
      καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ ἀποκαταλλάξαι τὰ πάντα εἰς αὐτόν,
      and through it he reconciled everything to himself,
         εἰρηνοποιήσας διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτοῦ,
         making peace through the blood of his cross,
         [δι’ αὐτοῦ]
         through him,
            εἴτε τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
            whether things on the earth
            εἴτε τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.
            or things in the heavens.

Notes

I broke the text into two groups with each group based on a relative clause. I thought the structure of Relative Clause -> πρωτότοκος statement ->  Subordinate Clause was interesting and a good thing to base the indentation on. Again, the indentation is just me — there is no real consistent basis for newlines and indentations. I'm sure if someone really wanted to, they could go to town in seeing chiasms in this text (and some folks probably already have).

Also, Col 1.19 is interesting. English translations (ESV and NET, anyway) presuppose that "all the fullness" (πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα) is really "all of God's fullness". Surely it is, but that is no reason to insert "God's" or "of God" into the text, is it? The subject is "all the fullness". So that's why I've translated it that way above.