| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? | 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don't need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? |
| 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. | 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, |
| 3It is clear that you are Christ's letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God--not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. | 3revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. |
| 4We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ. | 4Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. |
| 5It is not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. | 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, |
| 6He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life. | 6who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. |
| 7Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to look directly at Moses' face because of the glory from his face--a fading glory-- | 7But if the ministry that produced death--carved in letters on stone tablets--came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), |
| 8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? | 8how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? |
| 9For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. | 9For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! |
| 10In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. | 10For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. |
| 11For if what was fading away was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious. | 11For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! |
| 12Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness. | 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, |
| 13We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not stare at the end of what was fading away, | 13and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. |
| 14but their minds were closed. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. | 14But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. |
| 15Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, | 15But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, |
| 16but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. | 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. |
| 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. | 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. |
| 18We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. | 18And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. |
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