2 Corinthians, 3

1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves to you afresh -- as though we needed, like some others, to have letters of commendation either to you or from you?

1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

2. You yourselves are our letter, written in our hearts, that everyone can read and understand;

2. You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men;

3. and it is plain that you are a letter from Christ, entrusted to our care, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets but on the tablets of human hearts.

3. and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4. Such is the confidence we have through Christ in facing God;

4. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

5. it is not that we are so competent that we can claim any credit for ourselves; all our competence comes from God.

5. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,

6. He has given us the competence to be ministers of a new covenant, a covenant which is not of written letters, but of the Spirit; for the written letters kill, but the Spirit gives life.

6. who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7. Now if the administering of death, engraved in letters on stone, occurred in such glory that the Israelites could not look Moses steadily in the face, because of its glory, transitory though this glory was,

7. Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its brightness, fading as this was,

8. how much more will the ministry of the Spirit occur in glory!

8. will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?

9. For if it is glorious to administer condemnation, to administer saving justice is far richer in glory.

9. For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.

10. Indeed, what was once considered glorious has lost all claim to glory, by contrast with the glory which transcends it.

10. Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it.

11. For if what was transitory had any glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts for ever.

11. For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.

12. With a hope like this, we can speak with complete fearlessness;

12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,

13. not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites should not watch the end of what was transitory.

13. not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor.

14. But their minds were closed; indeed, until this very day, the same veil remains over the reading of the Old Testament: it is not lifted, for only in Christ is it done away with.

14. But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

15. As it is, to this day, whenever Moses is read, their hearts are covered with a veil,

15. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds;

16. and this veil will not be taken away till they turn to the Lord.

16. but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed.

17. Now this Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

18. And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.

18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.