King James Version

Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

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Greek

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ὅςhosWhoὅςrelative pronoun, nominative, singular, masculine — “Who”, the subject formG3739who, which, what, that.This verse uses “who”.Whoἐστινestinisεἰμί (eimi)verb, present active indicative, 3rd person singular — “is”, an ongoing or repeated actionG1510I am, exist.isεἰκὼνeikōnimageεἰκώνnoun, nominative, singular, feminine — “image”, the subject formG1504an image, likeness, bust.the imageτοῦtoutheὁ (ho)article, genitive, singular, masculine — “the”, the of-formG3588the, the definite article.θεοῦtheouGodθεός (theos)noun, genitive, singular, masculine — “God”, the of-formG2316(a) God, (b) a god, generally.This verse uses “God”.Godτοῦtoutheὁ (ho)article, genitive, singular, masculine — “the”, the of-formG3588the, the definite article.ἀοράτουaoratouinvisibleἀόρατος (aoratos)adjective, genitive, singular, masculine — “invisible”, the of-formG517unseen, invisible.This verse uses “invisible”.πρωτότοκοςprōtotokosfirstbornπρωτότοκοςadjective, nominative, singular, masculine — “firstborn”, the subject formG4416first-born, eldest.the firstbornπάσηςpasēsof everyπᾶς (pas)adjective, genitive, singular, feminine — “of every”, the of-formG3956all, the whole, every kind of.of everyκτίσεωςktiseōscreatureκτίσις (ktisis)noun, genitive, singular, feminine — “creature”, the of-formG2937(often of the founding of a city), (a) abstr: creation, (b) concr: creation, creature, institution; always of Divine work, (c) an institution, ordinance.This verse uses “creature”.creature

Literal (Young’s Literal Translation)

who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation,

Translation Note

πρωτότοκος is an adjective, nominative, singular, masculine. Dodson glosses it “first-born, eldest.” It is followed by the genitive πάσης κτίσεως, “of all creation.” The word ἄλλος, “other,” is not in the verse.

The King James Version reads “the firstborn of every creature.” The New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible) reads “the firstborn of all creation.” Both are renderings of that genitive. The next verse says what was created.

King James Version. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

New World Translation (Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Bible), this verse. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;” Watchtower Online Library

Compare Public-Domain Translations

The King James Version remains the text of this page and the canonical URL.

American Standard Version (1901)

who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

Young’s Literal Translation

who is the image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation,

World English Bible

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Darby Translation

who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation;

Douay-Rheims