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 praise ourselves again? We do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, like some people, do we?
2 our letter ye are, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, known and read by all people.
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. It was written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God. It was not written on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
4 and such trust we have through the Christ toward God,
And this is the confidence that we have through Christ before God.
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency [is] of God,
We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. Instead, our competence is 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.
It is God who made us able to be servants of a new covenant. This is a 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 the service that produced death—engraved in letters on stones—came in such glory that the people of Israel could not look directly at Moses' face. This is because of the glory of his face, a glory that was fading.
8 how shall the ministration of the Spirit not be more in glory?
How much more glorious will be the service that the Spirit does?
9 for if the ministration of the condemnation [is] glory, much more doth the ministration of the righteousness abound in glory;
For if the service of condemnation had glory, how much more does the service of righteousness abound in glory!
10 for also even that which hath been glorious, hath not been glorious — in this respect, because of the superior glory;
For indeed, that which was once made glorious is no longer glorious in this respect, because of the glory that exceeds it.
11 for if that which is being made useless [is] through glory, much more that which is remaining [is] in glory.
For if that which was passing away had glory, how much more will what is permanent have glory!
12 Having, then, such hope, we use much freedom of speech,
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
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 put a veil over his face, so that the people of Israel were not able to look directly at the ending of a glory that was passing 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 closed. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 but till to-day, when Moses is read, a vail upon their heart doth lie,
But even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 and whenever they may turn unto the Lord, the vail is taken away.
But when a person 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. 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.
Now all of us, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into the same glorious likeness from one degree of glory into another, just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
