2 Corinthians 3
1 [As I write these things about myself], I am [RHQ] not [doing it] to boast about how good I am, [as some of you say I do]. Some people always carry letters with them that tell how well they work, [that other people] have [written]. But I do not [RHQ] need [to bring] letters like that [when I come to you]. Nor do I need to ask you [to write] letters like that [for me when I go to other congregations].
වයං කිම් ආත්මප්‍රශංසනං පුනරාරභාමහේ? යුෂ්මාන් ප්‍රති යුෂ්මත්තෝ වා පරේෂාං කේෂාඤ්චිද් ඉවාස්මාකමපි කිං ප්‍රශංසාපත්‍රේෂු ප්‍රයෝජනම් ආස්තේ?
2 You yourselves are [MET] [like a] letter that recommends my work [for God to everyone]. People see [how Christ changed] your [lives when you believed the message that I taught you]. Everyone [who knows you] can see [the result of my work for God].
යූයමේවාස්මාකං ප්‍රශංසාපත්‍රං තච්චාස්මාකම් අන්තඃකරණේෂු ලිඛිතං සර්ව්වමානවෛශ්ච ඥේයං පඨනීයඤ්ච|
3 You are [MET] [like] a letter that Christ himself [has written] that says good things about [my work for God in your lives]. You show [people by the way you now conduct your lives that God has changed your lives] as a result of my work [among you. People did] not [find out about you by] reading [a letter that was written to them on paper] with [pen and] ink. Instead, [they saw how] the Spirit of the all-powerful God [has changed your lives]. Nor [did people find out about you by reading] a letter that was carved on stone slabs [like the stone slabs that God gave to Moses]. Instead, [it was the change that God’s Spirit made in] your lives [MET] [that they saw].
යතෝ (අ)ස්මාභිඃ සේවිතං ඛ්‍රීෂ්ටස්‍ය පත්‍රං යූයපේව, තච්ච න මස්‍යා කින්ත්වමරස්‍යේශ්වරස්‍යාත්මනා ලිඛිතං පාෂාණපත්‍රේෂු තන්නහි කින්තු ක්‍රව්‍යමයේෂු හෘත්පත්‍රේෂු ලිඛිතමිති සුස්පෂ්ටං|
4 I [can very] confidently [write these things about the work that Silas, Timothy, and I did among you, because God knows that what I write is true. We(exc) are true workers] for God [because of what] Christ [has done for us].
ඛ්‍රීෂ්ටේනේශ්වරං ප්‍රත්‍යස්මාකම් ඊදෘශෝ දෘඪවිශ්වාසෝ විද්‍යතේ;
5 We [(exc)], by ourselves, do not have the ability [to do this work]. None of us [apostles] can say, “[I have changed the lives of these people].” God is the one [who has given us this ability].
වයං නිජගුණේන කිමපි කල්පයිතුං සමර්ථා ඉති නහි කින්ත්වීශ්වරාදස්මාකං සාමර්ථ්‍යං ජායතේ|
6 He is the one who enables us [(exc)] to be his messengers. [He has enabled us to tell people the message] about the new agreement [that he is making with them]. This is not a [message about obeying all the] written laws [of his old agreement that he made with the Jewish people]. Instead, [it is a message about God giving us his] Spirit. [Previously, God condemned people to be] separated from him forever [if they did not obey his laws]. But by [God’s new agreement] his Spirit enables people to live [eternally].
තේන වයං නූතනනියමස්‍යාර්ථතෝ (අ)ක්‍ෂරසංස්ථානස්‍ය තන්නහි කින්ත්වාත්මන ඒව සේවනසාමර්ථ්‍යං ප්‍රාප්තාඃ| අක්‍ෂරසංස්ථානං මෘත්‍යුජනකං කින්ත්වාත්මා ජීවනදායකඃ|
7 [Moses] taught [the people that if they did not obey God’s laws completely they would be] separated from God forever. [God] wrote [his laws] on stone [slabs. Then he gave them to Moses to teach them to the people. Although God’s laws condemned the people] to die, [when Moses brought those laws down from Sinai Mountain, God caused Moses’ face to shine] Moses’ face to shine radiantly [to show the people that these laws were God’s laws. It shone]. so brightly that the people of Israel could not keep looking at Moses’ face. [They had to look away]. But the brightness was slowly fading away.
අක්‍ෂරෛ ර්විලිඛිතපාෂාණරූපිණී යා මෘත්‍යෝඃ සේවා සා යදීදෘක් තේජස්විනී ජාතා යත්තස්‍යාචිරස්ථායිනස්තේජසඃ කාරණාත් මූසසෝ මුඛම් ඉස්‍රායේලීයලෝකෛඃ සංද්‍රෂ්ටුං නාශක්‍යත,
8 [So], [since God showed in such a wonderful way that those laws that condemned the people to die were from him], surely when we [(exc)] teach [people about how God’s] Spirit will [change their lives], [God will show] in an even more wonderful way [that] it is [his message.] [RHQ]
තර්හ්‍යාත්මනඃ සේවා කිං තතෝ(අ)පි බහුතේජස්විනී න භවේත්?
9 The message [that Moses taught them was wonderful, but when people heard] that message, [they realized that they were sinners and that God] would punish them. But God’s message that we [(exc) teach is a] much more wonderful message. We teach people that God will (erase the record of/declare people no longer guilty for) [the sinful things that they have done].
දණ්ඩජනිකා සේවා යදි තේජෝයුක්තා භවේත් තර්හි පුණ්‍යජනිකා සේවා තතෝ(අ)ධිකං බහුතේජෝයුක්තා භවිෂ්‍යති|
10 [The truth is that, although the work of teaching the people to obey God’s laws] was once important, it is not as important now, because [the work of teaching people that God will forgive them and] enable them to live to please him is far more important.
උභයෝස්තුලනායාං කෘතායාම් ඒකස්‍යාස්තේජෝ ද්විතීයායාඃ ප්‍රඛරතරේණ තේජසා හීනතේජෝ භවති|
11 Furthermore, [the message that Moses taught was not a lasting message, just like] the brightness on his face was not lasting and soon faded away. But [when God gives his Spirit to people], the wonderful work that [God’s Spirit does in their lives] is much greater [because] it lasts forever.
යස්මාද් යත් ලෝපනීයං තද් යදි තේජෝයුක්තං භවේත් තර්හි යත් චිරස්ථායි තද් බහුතරතේජෝයුක්තමේව භවිෂ්‍යති|
12 We [(exc)] know that the message that we teach is a [much more wonderful message than the message that Moses taught]. So we [can preach] boldly.
ඊදෘශීං ප්‍රත්‍යාශාං ලබ්ධ්වා වයං මහතීං ප්‍රගල්භතාං ප්‍රකාශයාමඃ|
13 We do not [need to put a veil over our faces when we teach people], as Moses did. Moses put a veil over his face so that the Israelites would not see that the radiance [on his face] soon faded away. [Similarly, the glory of the old agreement has also faded away].
ඉස්‍රායේලීයලෝකා යත් තස්‍ය ලෝපනීයස්‍ය තේජසඃ ශේෂං න විලෝකයේයුස්තදර්ථං මූසා යාදෘග් ආවරණේන ස්වමුඛම් ආච්ඡාදයත් වයං තාදෘක් න කුර්ම්මඃ|
14 But the Israelis stubbornly refused to [understand that the old agreement would end]. Even now, when they read the old agreement, [they still do not realize that it has ended. It is as if] [MET] that same veil [that Moses put on his face] is now over their [minds, keeping them from understanding God’s true message]. They will [understand that message] only when [they come to trust] in Christ. Then [it will be as though God] has removed the veil.
තේෂාං මනාංසි කඨිනීභූතානි යතස්තේෂාං පඨනසමයේ ස පුරාතනෝ නියමස්තේනාවරණේනාද්‍යාපි ප්‍රච්ඡන්නස්තිෂ්ඨති|
15 [Throughout all these years], even until now, when [the Israelis] read what Moses [write, it is as though] a veil is covering their minds.
තච්ච න දූරීභවති යතඃ ඛ්‍රීෂ්ටේනෛව තත් ලුප්‍යතේ| මූසසඃ ශාස්ත්‍රස්‍ය පාඨසමයේ(අ)ද්‍යාපි තේෂාං මනාංසි තේනාවරණේන ප්‍රච්ඡාද්‍යන්තේ|
16 But when any of them believes in the Lord [Jesus], [God] removes that veil from them.
කින්තු ප්‍රභුං ප්‍රති මනසි පරාවෘත්තේ තද් ආවරණං දූරීකාරිෂ්‍යතේ|
17 [It is by the power of his] Spirit that the Lord [works in our lives], and the Lord’s Spirit has set us free [from trying to obey all the rules and rituals that God gave Moses].
යඃ ප්‍රභුඃ ස ඒව ස ආත්මා යත්‍ර ච ප්‍රභෝරාත්මා තත්‍රෛව මුක්තිඃ|
18 [It is as though God] has removed the veil from our faces [MET]. We realize how awesome Jesus is. As we realize that, we are continually being changed {[the Holy Spirit is] continually changing us} to become more and more like Jesus, [so that people can see], more and more, how awesome [Jesus is]. It is the Spirit of the Lord who does [this].
වයඤ්ච සර්ව්වේ(අ)නාච්ඡාදිතේනාස්‍යේන ප්‍රභෝස්තේජසඃ ප්‍රතිබිම්බං ගෘහ්ලන්ත ආත්මස්වරූපේණ ප්‍රභුනා රූපාන්තරීකෘතා වර්ද්ධමානතේජෝයුක්තාං තාමේව ප්‍රතිමූර්ත්තිං ප්‍රාප්නුමඃ|
