| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 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 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, written on our hearts, recognized 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 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. | 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. |
| 4We have this kind of confidence toward God through Christ. | 4We are confident of all this because of our great trust 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. | 5It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes 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. | 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, 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-- | 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. |
| 8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be 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 had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. | 9If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! |
| 10In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of 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 was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious. | 11So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! |
| 12Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness. | 12Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. |
| 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, | 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, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. | 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. |
| 15Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, | 15Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. |
| 16but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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