Colossians 4:13

a great zeal--The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate have "much labor." for you--lest you should be seduced (Col 2:4); a motive why you should be anxious for yourselves. them that are in Laodicea . . . Hierapolis--churches probably founded by Epaphras, as the Church in Colosse was. Laodicea, called from Laodice, queen of Antiochus II, on the river Lycus, was, according to the subscription to First Timothy, "the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana" (Ti1 6:21). All the three cities were destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 62 [TACITUS, Annals, 14.27]. Hierapolis was six Roman miles north of Laodicea.

I. He continues his account of the duty of masters, from the close of the former chapter (Col 4:1). II. He exhorts to the duty of prayer (Col 4:2-4), and to a prudent and decent conduct towards those with whom we converse (Col 4:5, Col 4:6). III. He closes the epistle with the mention of several of his friends, of whom he gives an honourable testimony (Col 4:7-18).

4:13 Laodicea and Hierapolis were the two most important cities in the Lycus River valley. The fact that Epaphras prayed for the believers in Colosse and in these nearby cities suggests that he was the pioneering evangelist in all three cities.