2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or letters of recommendation from you?
2 You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:
You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all.
3 Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.
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 stone tablets, but on tablets of human hearts.
4 And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.
Such is the confidence that we have in God through Christ.
5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.
Not that we are competent in and of ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth.
He 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 gives life.
7 Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void:
Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its glory (a glory that was fading away),
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?
will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory even more.
10 For even that which was glorious in this part was not glorified, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For what was once glorious now has no glory in comparison with the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory.
And if what was fading away came with glory, what remains will be even more glorious.
12 Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence:
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness.
13 And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void.
We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not gaze at the end of what was fading away.
14 But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void).
But their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil remains unlifted when the old covenant is read. Only in Christ is this veil taken away.
15 But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And 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; this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
