1Do we again begin to commend ourselves? Or do we, as some, need epistles of commendation to you, or epistles of commendation from you? 2You are our epistle, and are inscribed in our hearts, being known and read by all men; 3For it is manifest that you are Christ's epistle, ministered by us; you were not inscribed with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on fleshly tablets of the heart.

4Now we have this confidence through Christ toward God; 5Not that we are competent of ourselves, or credit anything to our own abilities: rather, our competency is from God; 6Who also made us competent as ministers of the New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in stones, came into being with glory, so that the children of Israel were not able to gaze upon Moses' face because of the glory of his face, which glory is being set aside; 8Shall not the ministry of the Spirit be far more glorious? 9For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, to a much greater degree the ministry of righteousness overflows with glory. 10And even the ministry of condemnation, which had glory, was not glorious in this respect, because of the surpassing glory of the ministry of life. 11For if that which is being set aside came into being through glory, to a much greater degree that which remains is glorious.

12Now then, because we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; 13For we are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not gaze to the end upon the glory that is now being set aside. 14But their minds were blinded; for to the present hour the same veil has not been removed, but remains at the reading of the Old Covenant; which veil is removed in Christ. 15For to this day, when Moses is read, the veil lies upon their hearts. 16But when their hearts turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18But we all, with uncovered faces beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.