2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to recommend ourselves, except we need, as some, letters of recommendation unto 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 our letter ye are, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all.
3 manifested that ye are a letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in the tablets of stone, but in fleshy tablets 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 trust we have through the Christ toward God,
Such is the confidence that we have in God through Christ.
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency [is] of 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 made us sufficient [to be] ministrants of a new covenant, not of letter, but of spirit; for the letter doth kill, and the spirit doth make alive.
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 and if the ministration of the death, in letters, engraved in stones, came in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look stedfastly to the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face — which was being made useless,
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 the ministration of the Spirit not be more in glory?
will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 for if the ministration of the condemnation [is] glory, much more doth the ministration of the righteousness abound in glory;
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory even more.
10 for also even that which hath been glorious, hath not been glorious — in this respect, because of the superior glory;
For what was once glorious now has no glory in comparison with the glory that surpasses it.
11 for if that which is being made useless [is] through glory, much more that which is remaining [is] in glory.
And if what was fading away came with glory, what remains will be even more glorious.
12 Having, then, such hope, we use much freedom of speech,
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness.
13 and [are] not as Moses, who was putting a vail upon his own face, for the sons of Israel not stedfastly to look to the end of that which is being made useless,
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 minds were hardened, for unto this day the same vail at the reading of the Old Covenant doth remain unwithdrawn — which in Christ is being made useless —
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 till to-day, when Moses is read, a vail upon their heart doth lie,
But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
16 and whenever they may turn unto the Lord, the vail is taken away.
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 And the Lord is the 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 and we all, with unvailed face, the glory of the Lord beholding in a mirror, to the same image are being transformed, from glory to glory, even 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.
