| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? | 1Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! |
| 2You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone. | 2The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. |
| 3It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. | 3Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. |
| 4Such confidence before God is ours through Christ. | 4We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. |
| 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. | 5It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. |
| 6And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. | 6He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. The Glory of the New Covenant |
| 7Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, | 7The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. |
| 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? | 8Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? |
| 9For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! | 9If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! |
| 10Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. | 10In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. |
| 11For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures! | 11So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! |
| 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. | 12Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. |
| 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. | 13We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. |
| 14But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. | 14But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. |
| 15And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. | 15Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. |
| 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. | 16But whenever someone turns 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. | 17For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. |
| 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. | 18So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. |
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