4:13a

For I testify about him: The Greek verb martureō that the Berean Standard Bible translates I testify about literally means “I witness” or “I testify.” It means that because Paul had personally seen and heard what Epaphras was doing, he could assure the Colossian believers that Epaphras was working hard on behalf of the Colossians and others.

he goes to great pains for you: The Greek translated literally says “he has much pain/labor for you.” There are two ways to interpret these words:

(1) Paul was referring to the hard work that Epaphras was doing to help the Colossians.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, God’s Word, New Century Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible)

(2) Paul was referring to the strong emotions that Epaphras felt because he was concerned about the Colossians. See SSA.

(New Living Translation (2004))

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1), since the Greek word ponos most naturally means “work,” not “concern.” This is also the interpretation preferred by the majority of commentators. Paul did not specify the sort of work Epaphras was doing on behalf of the Colossians, but it presumably included praying for them (4:12). You could translate this:

I can assure you that he is working hard to help you,

Do not try to explain what kind of work Epaphras was doing.

4:13b

Laodicea and Hierapolis: These were towns along the same river as Colossae, to the west. It is possible that Epaphras had already preached in these towns also.

© 2001 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.